Smile Like You're Mocking Them
by Shadany1002
Summary: Unemployed, tagged, forced into Community Service with a bunch of shitheads with ASBO's, Lewis was being a cock and to put the cherry on the top: she had a headache. Emily Ward's life sounded like it was at a hold for the next couple years, perhaps until she managed to succeed in something instead of fucking up like usual.
1. Community Blowback

**A/N: This is my first attempt at a Nathan/OC fanfic, so I hope it's not complete shit? THANK YOU x**

* * *

There's a big part of her that's considering throwing herself backwards, over the railings and drowning herself in the scummy, litter-filled sea, for it had a good few perks that caught her eye.

1\. She'd never have to see Lewis again.

2\. She wouldn't have to 'give back' to a community that thought she was scum.

and finally:

3\. Death.

Okay, maybe she was being a bit dramatic. You can't really blame her though, she had been desensitised to anything remotely serious since her high school experience had been filled with a mockery of suicide which was majorly offensive and BPAS jokes mainly aimed at her friend Millie, who had gotten pregnant in Year 11 with Samuel 'I own an STD ridden camaro' Lee's kid.

But now, she was somewhere she never actually expected she'd end up: Community Service. Dressed in that rank orange jumpsuit, lined up against the railing with six other offenders like cattle for slaughter. Dehumanisation like this belonged in Wilfred Owen poetry, not a community centre in South East London.

"This is your chance to do something positive." Their probation worker said – he was a broad, black guy with a look of constant irritation on his face "Give something back. You can help people, you can really make a difference to people's lives."

 _Yeah right, mate_ , she thought with a smirk, _does this lot really look like they want to give back?_ "That's what community service is all about." He peered around the group with a look of deep thought on his face "There are people who think you're scum. You have an opportunity to show them they're wrong."

"Yeah, but what if they're right?" Pillock chirped up "No offence," he turned to the hardman in a baseball cap, obviously aiming his next statement at him. Emily peered over with excitement, anything that began with 'no offence' would most definitely be offensive "But I think some people are just born criminals."

"Are ya lookin' ta get stabbed?" Hardman snapped back, stepping forwards as if to be threatening but only managing to look as threatening as a baby deer falling over.

"Ya see my point there?"

"It doesn't matter what you've done in the past-" He's interrupted by slut's phone ringing to life. Cue her telling her mate about how shit the first five minutes have been and making his expression harden even more "Hey. Excuse me, hello, I'm still talking here."

"What, I thought you'd finished?" She sent him an exasperated look.

"If my lips are still moving, I'm still talking." He shot back, irritated.

"Yeah, but you coulda been yawning, or chewing." Pillock listed off.

"End the call. _Hang up_!" He yelled.

"It's just my probation worker." Emily grimaced at the sound of slut chewing her gum as loudly as possible, it made the hairs on her back rise.

"-I'll rip out your throat and shit down your neck." Hardman threatened Pillock once more, managing to make Emily snort as she attempted to sneakily light her fag without the probation worker noticing and dragging out this inspirational speech even longer.

"We need to work as a team here." He tried once more "Hey, that's enough, and put that out!" Fuck. Emily held a finger up, inhaling deeply around the cigarette she'd secretly whipped out, blowing out a puff of smoke "Now!"

"One second!" She exclaimed, inhaling again and puffing out, rinse and repeat, over and over until her lungs burned and her lips were chapped.

"You're goin' to get lung cancer real quick, love." Pillock chirped, despite being held at the collar by the hardman in a baseball cap.

"What're you on about? I'm fit as a fiddle." She coughed, dropping the fag on the ground and stomping on it with the toe of her shoe. Pillock sent her a shit-eating grin, and she sent a mocking grin back, then let her face drop back into deadpan once more. Her resting bitch face was a well-known repellent for most people.

"Can I move to a different group? This isn't gonna work for me." Runner boy asked with a shrug. She'd disliked him the minute he had said 'I shouldn't be here, man' in that self-pitying tone, the cunt. What a dickhead.

"Uh, wot makes you fink you're betta than os?" Chav sneered at him.

"What is that accent?" Pillock suddenly exclaimed.

"Is that for real?" Runner boy smirked.

"Wot, are ya tryin' ta say somethin' then ya."

"It's…That's just a noise. Are we supposed to be able to understand her?" Chav sent Pillock a very reasonable middle finger, and he grinned that really irritating grin of his and flung an arm around the hardman "I think she likes me." Cue the hardman losing his shit and starting to attack the Irish fucktard, managing to make Emily snicker and slut laugh loudly. Seeing two retards brawl probably would be some pure entertainment, like something off the Jeremy Kyle show.

Hardman pushed against the probation worker, while Pillock began to flail, a parody of a fighting stance "Do it, man, do it! I fuckin dare you man! You're a fuckin' pussy bruv! _He's takin' the piss!"_

* * *

Emily wasn't sure how she felt about her group of delinquents, and began to ponder on how they would survive 200 hours together, since group dynamic seemed to not even exist with them. As a bunch of outsiders that were completely different from one another, she wasn't completely sure if they'd survive today with how much fury was emanating from the hardman.

"Argh! There's paint on my cap! This is bullshit!" He suddenly roared, leaping up from where he was crouched at the front of the bench and storming away, lunging his leg out to kick a paint pot over and then a trolley and his little, spaghetti leg only managed to knock it slightly. He did it once more and disappeared around the corner. She hoped he was embarrassed. He was like a man-child.

Moving away from the rat lookalike, there was slut. She had stuck to the stereotype, she was judging a book by its cover, and honestly, she didn't understand the problem with that. If you advertise yourself in a certain way, people will make judgements, that was how society worked. It's your actions that change how people perceive you and slut had been flaunting her tits in the locker room and sending sultry glances at runner boy. Emily was pretty sure she had her on point.

But, in all honesty, she was, overall, pretty; with golden skin and perfectly coiffed hair, a petite frame and tits that all the males of the group had already ogled at, given a double-take and even perhaps a triple take. She managed to make the sodding jumpsuit look reasonable. How? Emily needed answers.

Then, there was Chav. She was pale, with her hair pulled back so tightly it was either like a face-lift or made her appear slightly oriental. She constantly had an expression of disgust or disdain on her face, with her lips pursed and hands clenched into fists, as if ready to land a punch on someone. There was something slightly terrifying about her, in a way, perhaps the idea that if she beat you to death, you would never know what her last words to you would be, since she spoke in tongues, _obviously_.

Runner boy was easy. Athlete that fucked himself over by dealing whatever he dealt; meth, heroine, steroids, she didn't know. Why would she know? Why would she read the paper or watch the news when she could be watching some comedy that other people thought was scummy but she probably found hilarious? You could tell he was a cool kid by how he tied his jumpsuit at his waist, to show his tank top off. Runner boy was a tall, black guy, with fluffy looking black hair and a constant look of self-absorbed unhappiness on his face, arms crossed, like a child in a strop. He pissed her off the most out of them all, to be completely honest.

Pillock was the kind of guy to grin at you during an argument, aggravating and full of shit; his shit-eating grin made her want to tear his hair out and she had only known him for ten minutes. He was tall - given a few inches by the curly mop of hair on his head - and lanky with a head full of curly, brown hair and a swagger to his walk. He probably thought the world of himself, and didn't seem to hold any shame either. He liked attention, and didn't seem to give two shits whether it was good or bad attention.

Finally, weird kid. He was a stocky, twitchy guy with the palest skin she had seen, almost sickly pale with a guarded expression on his face, as if he was constantly uncomfortable. He stood so straight that Emily was almost convinced that someone had taped a ruler to his back since she had never seen anyone stand like that for as long as he was managing. Not to mention how he had zipped his jumpsuit all the way up to his neck, she assumed that would be uncomfortably tight around the neck – in fact it must be as he kept tugging on it, perhaps from it strangling him or nervousness. She didn't know.

Did Emily fit in with the crowd? She didn't know, maybe? Nobody seemed to really fit in, it was like picking one person from each of the stereotypical high school groups: The popular slutty girls, the chav's, the 'class clowns,' the popular athletic boys, the misfits and the plain Jane's.

So, none of them would ever _really_ fit in, but, what can you do?

"So, I'm guessin' shopliftin?" Pillock tried "No?"

Chav snapped back "Don't act like ya know me cos ya don't."

"I'm just makin' conversation. This is a chance to network with other young offenders. We should be swappin' tips! Brainstormin'. C'mon, what did you do?"

"A girl called me a slag so I just got into a fight."

Hah. Classic.

She's probably one of those 'a fighter, not a lover' kind of girls, ready to whack you in the face and break your nose kind of people, which was a nice change from 'I'll show you my tits for validation' kind of girls. Like Tiffany Dwayne who attended her old college, she was pretty pathetic to be honest, flashing her tits and missing lessons to suck cock. In actual fact, she reminded her a bit (a lot) of Slut.

"Was this on the Jeremy Kyle Show?"

"No, it was down Argos."

"Ah, Argos. You know what you shoulda done? You shoulda got one of them little pens they have and jabbed it in her eye. What about you, weird kid? Don't take this the wrong way or anythin' but you look like a panty sniffer." Emily snickered. _Don't take this the wrong way or anything but you look like a proper pervert_. Yeah, no offence though, mate, it's all in good fun!

"I'm not a panty sniffer. I'm not a pervert." Even his voice sounded shaky, like he was unsure of what he was saying or like he bristled when spoken to. Honestly, after what the Pillock just said, she wouldn't blame him for bristling. That Irish twat was a right Pillock, hence the nickname. "I tried to burn someone's house down!"

Well, shit.

"Jesus, remind me not to get on your bad side." She commented with a good-hearted grin in his direction, pausing to roll her eyes when he began to stutter out a reply in a panic "Calm down, I'm just dickin' around."

"Wot did you do?" Chav finally asked Pillock.

"Me? Uh, I was done for eating some pick 'n' mix." He exclaimed, making Emily scoff loudly in disbelief, twisting from where she was crouching to raise an eyebrow in his direction "Wha? Don't believe me, four-eyes?" She sent him an incredulous expression.

"Nobody with a right mind would believe that bullshit." She replied idly, slapping some paint on a naked piece of the bench "Dunno who you think you're foolin' mate."

"Ya, that's bollocks." Chav agreed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's a bit rude to call out someone in the middle of a really interestin' story, innit, four-eyes? 'Specially with such harsh words. Ever heard o' 'sticks and stones will break my bones but word's will never hurt me' well, that's not true. I'm pretty fuckin' wounded." He adopted a look of pain on his face, clutching at his chest.

"Aw, poor thing." She replied with a pout.

"C'mon, the least you could do is pity me!" He exclaimed, flailing his long, lanky arms out to flap at his sides. She snickered and shook her head, ruffling her dark hair.

"That's not possible, mate. You're like the embodiment of the first person to leave on a cooking show. Pathetic and sad but everyone laughs anyway." Chav barked out a laugh "What can you do, eh?"

"Oh, I was thinkin' you could kiss it better." He winked, making Emily cringe – she was pretty damn sure Lewis wouldn't like her doing that, he's probably tearing the flat apart just thinking of her talking to other men to be honest. She shuddered at the thought only to make Pillock whinge "Okay, okay! Wha's that _look_ supposed to mean? You're real good at hurtin' a man's feelin's!"

"I was just thinking how my boyfriend wouldn't really like me doin' that." She shrugged, smirking at the noise that erupted from his throat.

"You're taken goods? Are ya kiddin' me? Why are all the woman criminals taken? Is this some Bonnie and Clyde shit because this is totally unfair!" He furrowed his brows, then directed his attention to the sky, which was brewing with an oncoming storm, angry black clouds swirled together, filling the white, dim sky of Wertham. Thunder clapped loudly from above them, a warning of what was to come soon, probably "What is goin' on with this weather?"

"How'd that happen?" The probation worker approached, and immediately his face scrunched into a confused exasperation when he gestured to the paint splattered on the ground from the hardman having a strop "I mean, you've been here five minutes. It's painting benches. How'd you screw that up? You tell me because I've got no idea."

"We're really talented screw-ups?" Emily offered with an innocent smirk, when her comment - that would have just gotten her reprimanded – was cut off by a giant crashing noise, startling everybody enough to make them stumble back in shock as the car's alarm went off, ringing loudly.

"That's my car," the probation worker's voice took on a defeated tone, or an innocent one; not as exasperated as his tone beforehand. Like a sad kid that just watched his kite fly away in the wind or dropped his ice-cream cone on the sand.

"Classic!" Pillock laughed giddily.

Emily, who's heart was crashing against her ribcage in pure shock, and a lot from being completely freaked out, turned to peer at her co-offenders, who appeared to be just as freaked out as her. The weird kid had pulled out his shitty camera phone and had started filming this shit, and she spared him a baffled glance before going back to freaking out. She was mainly concerned at the idea that these were _car sized hailstones_ and that they would all be crushed if they didn't find some panic room to curl up in and wait the storm out. She had good music taste; she'd survive.

"Okay, so I'm a little bit freaked out." Pillock exclaimed.

"Shocker!" Emily called back instinctively, ignoring him when he turned to peer at her then back up at the sky, where she was staring at the black cloud, darkening every minute. She let out a pathetic shriek when another sodding car sized hailstone shot through the air and into the garbage disposal bin beside her and weird kid's bench. She caught her foot on the little concrete ledge, and tumbled onto her arse.

Pillock twisted in a way that looked slightly painful and reached a spaghetti arm out for her, she grasped his hand to heave herself up, feeling slightly lightheaded from jumping up so quickly. With the thunder clapping so loudly it made her ears ring, she only managed a shaky nod to him as thanks, which he mouthed something she couldn't read.

"Right, let's go. Everyone inside." The probation worker tried to salvage his calmness, but the situation was too dire for politeness, which she supposed was completely fair when he yelled " _Move! Move!_ " Emily had to qualms about this particular order and took off. Chest still heaving with the shock of the giant fucking hailstones, and still feeling slightly lightheaded.

Each clap of thunder felt like it was tilting the ground as she sprinted – she felt as if she was at constant risk of just losing balance and falling on her face, cracking her skull open and bleeding out here and now. She vaguely thought back to her first thought of drowning herself in the sea and pondered on the idea that she was some kind of psychic. She had a vision that she would die today, from water – frozen water. Bam. She should join the X-Men. Or a Circus. Or a psychiatric hospital.

She shook her head. The world was falling apart around her and here she was, thinking shit to herself. Emily had always wanted her final thoughts or words to be deep shit, meaningful and memorable. Like something from Titanic or Terms of Endearment but really, they'd probably be something from Shaun of the Dead.

"It's locked!" Runner boy yelled. The probation worker shoved forwards, looking kind of strange, hunched like he was, since he was such a big, broad guy. His hand shook terribly and he attempted to find the right key, but with everyone yelling at him, screaming and shouting at him, he couldn't manage it. Emily almost felt bad for the prick, if he hadn't gotten offended at how rude slut was being when there was a prominent risk of death in this situation.

There was a crash-

BAM.

Her heart in her chest, which was already pumping at the speed of light, stopped, when she was thrown back by some unknown force, the breath left her lungs as he she had been winded, she gasped and writhed, wanting to drag her arms up to place her hands on her neck, as if to tear at something holding at it. But her arms were lead, and her voice was lost in her throat.

Her eyes were moist when she managed to crack them open, eardrums ringing, still filled with the noise of clapping thunder and cracking lightening; it sounded as if it still surrounded her, blended in with echoed shrieks and distant yells.

There was nothing. It was just her, it seemed at least, floating in a dark abyss, enveloped by the mere noise of the storm. The force holding her down suddenly lifted and her eyes flashed open properly, allowing her to inhale properly, and she gasped and sucked in deeply, head throbbing as she flailed, reminding her of a fish out of water.

But, unfortunately, the relief she felt was gone quickly, and replaced by a burning electricity that started in her feet and coiled through her body, slowly enough to make a shriek bubble in her chest. It was a quite similar feeling to severe pins and needles in every inch of your body, and it was already a rather unpleasant sensation when it wasn't severe.

And she dropped-

"Where the fuck are my glasses." There was a muffled groan, and it took her a moment to realise it was her own voice. Her body ached like fuck, she wasn't sure she'd be able to move from where she was curled on the wet pavement. Her limbs felt like pure lead, even when lying down and not moving them, not to mention that she was pretty sure the drop onto the concrete had bruised her coccyx since it ached like a bitch.

With extreme cautiousness, Emily opened her eyes and blinked against the vibrancy of the white sky. She hissed and placed her hand over them, willing them to cease their burning – maybe her corneas were damaged or shit. She already had glasses, what's more to the mix?

"I feel really weird." Chav said, dazed.

"No idea why that would be." Emily groaned out, pressing the pads of her palms into her eyes until static appeared behind her lids. She managed to open her eyes quick enough to notice the delightful glare sent in her direction from chav.

"That'll be the lightnin'." Runner boy breathed out, sitting up and massaging his head, eyebrows furrowed in pain and obvious disbelief.

"We should be dead." Weird kid stated in shock.

The positivity of a pyromaniac was truly astounding, Emily thought as she blinked against the brightness "A little reassurance might be nice, you know. 'You're fine,' 'Lookin' good.'" Pillock chimed with a voice thick from, well, whatever shit just happened. Getting hit by lightning was no walk in the park, she now knows. Story to tell the grandkids, that is.

"W-Wanker." The probation worker mumbled out through gritted teeth, face slack and twitching, like he was having a stroke or a seizure or something. Emily couldn't really see too well anyway without her sexy arse Harry Potter spectacles. That was a lie, they were from Specsavers; cheap and did the job at saving her from getting eye surgery, which honestly terrified her. Without them she was like Velma from Scooby-Doo; constantly struggling.

"…Did he just call me a wanker?" Pillock asked, jaw slack and eyes outraged. She snorted into her arms, only to earn a sneer from the Irish bastard "Shut it, four eyes!"

"You can't be mad just 'cause he stated the truth." She shot back, then went back to palming at the ground to try and locate her sodding glasses.

"Is everyone alright?" The probation worker managed to say in a fairly normal tone this time, instead of his mumbo-jumbo voice.

"No, I've gone blind." Everyone's eyes shot to her "Sorry, that came out wrong. Anyone see my glasses anywhere?" There were multiple sighs of exasperation before she felt her glasses hovering slightly above her hand "Cheers, uh," She peered the person beside her, who was chav "Uh…"

"Kelly." Chav told her, unamused, only making her laugh sheepishly with a half-hearted apology under her breath as she placed her glasses back on and blinked to clear her eyes "Are you a'wright?" She asked the probation worker, almost shocking Emily with her compassion and concern for his wellbeing "You're actin' like a freak." And the shock faded.

"Ma-Maybe we should call it a day." He groaned out, face twitching again. She heaved herself to her feet with a grimace in his direction and pondered if this meant they'd have to make up for the hours they lost today or if today's hour counted. She hoped they had to redo them.

"No shit." Slut spat at the probation worker who had finally managed to open the door and shoved past him, stalking into the building and down the corridor to the locker rooms. Pillock whistled lowly, before following, sending the probation worker a bitter glare, probably due to the 'wanker' insult a few moments.

Emily and Kelly somehow fell into step with her as they made their way into the locker room; an awkward, tense silence fell over them, making her feel beyond uncomfortable, tugging on the bracelet Lewis gave her on her wrist, and staring at her shoes, wondering why she bought shoes in vibrant red.

"Sorry I didn't know your name." She finally said. Furrowing her brows when Kelly turned to her, face softer and not as angry as per usual "I don't actually know anyone's names here. I've actually given them all nicknames until I figure out their real ones."

Kelly snorted as they entered the locker room, where runner boy was literally almost ready to leave, weird kid seemed to be struggling with his top button and pillock was doing some weird stretching shit on the ground, only to have Kelly trod on his hand on the way to her locker.

"Oi! These beauties can't be damaged!" He exclaimed, clutching his hand to his chest with a pout then slung an arm around Emily, who was the poor soul that stood closest to him due to the proximity of their lockers and offered her a sultry smirk "Could be a fuckin' hand model, eh, four-eyes?"

"Maybe like one of those before and after photos. 'This is what happened after methamphetamine abuse.'" She replied idly. Runner boy snorted as she smacked his hand away that hovered a few centimetres from her face and flipped him the bird when he grinned wider.

"Y'know, it's been said that when a lass bullies ya, it means they wanta, y'know-" He started thrusting his hips wildly, meeting Emily's eyes, which were unamused, uninterested and mildly disgusted "C'mon four-eyes, your boyfriend can watch too, if tha's what he's into!"

"You're sick." Runner boy spat and stalked out of the locker room.

"Actually, it just means you're a dick." Kelly told him with a scoff, and shifted over to the mirror and began to smooth out her hair with her hairbrush, earning a slightly judgemental look from Slut.

"Well, you could cut the tension in this room with a knife." He stated, and made a beeline for the door, leaving just Emily, Slut and Kelly. Weird kid had left whenever he'd left, he had this tendency to manage to blend in with backgrounds, and since he hardly every spoke up unlike slut or pillock, he was pretty much invisible.

As she dropped her jumpsuit in her locker and began to pull on her leggings and jumper, she turned to Kelly and watched her scrape her hair back into that face-lift style. It reminded her of like visual ASMR, she supposed, some people were into it, other's, not so much.

Suddenly, Kelly wheeled around the face slut, with her eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed in that near-constant sneer "Wot d'ya say?"

"I didn't say anything." Slut replied defensively, grabbing her bag and storming past Kelly with an aggravated expression on her face.

Honestly, Emily was kind of disappointed; she'd been slightly hoping she'd have first row seats to a catfight, since it's known for Kelly to start a brawl over something small, like the Jeremy Kyle worthy incident down at Argos. She had imagined there would be hair pulling, shrieking and some teeth on the floor that had been punched out.

"D'you wanna say that to my face?" Emily stiffened when Kelly turned to her, eyes angry and stepped forward threateningly "I fought you were nice!"

Emily finally came to and snapped "You're hearin' things." She grabbed her rucksack and threw it over her shoulder, stalking past Kelly and into the lobby, where she saw that everyone was beginning to leave. Thank fuck, she was praying that they wouldn't have to wait for their freak of a probation worker.

She wondered if he was alright, despite how rudely she referred to him, since he was the only one to really act like he'd been struck by lightning, unlike the rest of them. They were just like before, and for some of them, slightly more annoying, like pillock, as time went by, he just became more of a bastard.

Emily shuddered as she shoved open the door and into the cool air – it had a dampness to it that it usually did after storms. She dragged her eyes across the landscape, peering curiously at the fist-sized hailstones that were splattered across the asphalt. She huddled in her jumper, pulling the sleeves over her hands and curling her arms to her chest with a shiver.

Suddenly, a hand wrapped around her arm tightly, making her heart leap in her chest and a shriek bubble in her throat as she spun to face her attacker-

"Hiya, love."

"J-Jesus, Lewis." She breathed, swallowing thickly at the familiar face of her boyfriend, then wincing when his hand tightened around her arm "You scared me. What are you doing here?"

"Aren't ya happy to see me?" He raised an eyebrow, lips tugging into that familiar grin that once used to make her light up. Not anymore.

"Of course, I am." She quickly replied, smiling in relief when his crooked grin returned, and leaned into him when he pressed his lips to hers "How did you know we'd finish early, though?"

"Saw you lot going inside after that weird storm." He told her into her neck, sucking gently on the skin, then smirking at her small groan. Feeling his stubble against her smooth skin and his breathy laugh, it almost reminded her of why she had fallen in love with him "Let's get home, yeah?"

Emily nodded shakily "Let's."

* * *

 **A/N: So, this is my first attempt at a Misfits fanfic? I hope that wasn't too out of character? And what do you think of Emily? Is she realistic? Thanks for reading! And I'd really, really appreciate it if you left a comment? They moisturise my skin x**


	2. 0 to 100

"That looks sore." Lewis commented as he peered over her shoulder, watching her while she finished washing up the plates from last night. Her back straightened at the question, but she continued to scrub, trying to show indifference.

She bit her lip and nodded "It's not that bad." She told him, swallowing thickly.

"My silly girl." he murmured it as if it was an endearment but she felt embarrassment creep up on her at the term. He shifted behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, locking his fingers together to keep her in place "Maybe that'll help you remember that if you get close to any of them guys in your community service, I won't be happy. You know that." She swallowed thickly.

She bit her tongue until she tasted iron "You can't order me around, Lewis. I'm not a child."

His eyes narrowed, pulling away from her "Are you saying you'll get close to them?" He demanded, face twisted into a betrayed expression "Are you planning on cheating on me? Jesus Christ, Emily. You'd better fucking not."

"I never said that." Emily replied quickly, trying to ignore how fast her heart was beating "I'd _never_."

"I'd hope not." He whispered, pulling her to him until her arguments failed her and she felt her anger fire up at herself for not being able to stand up to her piece of shit of a boyfriend.

Lewis had been a charmer, two years back. He'd been smooth and a bit awkward when he first approached her, but she had found it beyond endearing, how he scratched the nape of his neck and smiled like he wanted to say so much but didn't know how to. He'd worn his hair brushed back, windswept and constantly falling into his face, giving him an almost puppy dog look to him, like a sandy Labrador that lit up when he smiled.

She remembered that back then, she had adored him.

He'd grown in the small vicinity of two years. He was seven inches taller and broader, with noticeable muscle on his bones and thick, dark blonde stubble growing on his face, going well with his sandy hair colour, that he now slicked back with gel. His grin no longer held the awkwardness of trying to show off to your crush, but now an arrogant confidence that was almost dislikeable.

But Lewis, he managed to say things, do things that made her remember why she loved him. Like making her tea just how she liked it or putting her favourite bath gel in the tub. Usually he would fuck her, but sometimes he would make _love_ to her. Sometimes he would kiss her and it would bring her back to that moment he first kissed her, all trembling hands and stammering voice. He would tangle their fingers together when walking into town to see his mates, he would play a song they danced to on their one-year anniversary and she would be brought back.

Emily would be brought back, and she would love him again.

* * *

"This is a joke! Did one o'you do this?" Curtis exclaimed angrily, sneer in place and eyebrows furrowed as he beckoned to the words 'I AM GOING TO KILL YOU' painted on the wall. She had the distant thought of some hard kid wannabe doing this to take the piss out of them. Cunts. Emily rolled her eyes at him and scoffed at him around her spliff.

"Don't look a' me cos I din't do it." Kelly snapped back.

"Why would any of us put the time and effort into doing this crafty vandalism when we'd be the suckers having to clean it up?" She queried, voice muffled as she tapped her index finger to her temple "Logic, my friend." Curtis sent her a dirty look in which she responded with a puff of smoke.

"I'll tell ya who did it. It's that Banksy prick. There's a hidden meaning. It's like that monkey policeman with the banana and the Tescos bag." Nathan – Emily thought that pillock suited him far more though – said, placing an arm around weird kid's shoulders.

"Maybe someone wants to kill us." He suggested quietly, peering at his shoes.

"Uh, why would anybody want to kill os?" Snapped Kelly, offended.

"I could give you a few reasons." Emily said, slumping against the wall with a sigh "A bunch of young offenders with ASBO's. Menaces to society and societies children; will sell your ten-year-old meth and your teenage daughter a coat hanger for personal reasons. Blah, blah, blah."

"Fuckin' hell, four eyes." Nathan exclaimed, leaning forwards so that the tip of her spliff touched the tip of his spliff until she jerked away and whacked him as gently as possible on the arm "I wouldn't waste sellin' a coat hanger to a _teenager_ when _Alisha's_ right here with us!"

"Fuck off!" Alisha yelled angrily "You can't talk, you're probably crawling with STI's."

"No way, man, I'm clean goods." He ran his hands down his body, winking at Kelly, who sneered and turned away to peer down at her phone with a frown – she almost seemed kind of sad. Emily wanted to apologise to her for whatever happened in the locker room yesterday, it was pretty fucking strange and she was still confused about the situation, but still. Kelly was nice.

"Nice to know what you think of us." Curtis commented to her bitterly.

"What can I say. I see the bad in people." She deadpanned, turning her head to the side when the probation worker rounded around the corner, like a man with a plan. His face was set and already impatient without saying a single word to them.

"Right, come on you lot, let's get changed." He said to them, completely ignoring the threatening graffiti that covered the wall. He gained a few incredulous looks from the group which he pointedly ignored also. She was impressed at how talented he was at ignoring the obvious.

"Have you seen this? Someone's takin' the piss." Curtis beckoned to the wall in aggravation.

The probation worker stood back on his heels "Yeah, it's terrible, isn't it?" He said, sounding mildly uninterested at the current topic "All this anti-social behaviour." Emily smirked, blowing out a puff of air in amusement. The probation worker was savage; trying to make some beef with the troublesome young offenders.

"Oh, is he havin' a dig at us?" Nathan raised an eyebrow.

Alisha's phone rung to life, and the impatient expression hardened to almost fury on the probation worker's face "Right, that's it!" He hissed "All of you, just give me your phones. No one's making any more calls today. Now. Come one." Alisha smirked with a small laugh and held her phone away from his outstretched hand.

"Are you allowed to take our phones?" She mocked, grin stretching on her lips after snapping a photo of him and he snatched it from her hands. Curtis handed his over fairly easily, as did Simon, whereas Kelly attempted to deceive him and pretend that she didn't have her phone on her, sneering when he snatched it from her hands. Emily practically threw her phone at him, thankful to not have to hear the stupid little ringtone of a new message or a missed call.

"I'm expectin' a call from my mum." Nathan said to him, as if the probation worker would give a shit, then lips pursing when he pulled it from his hand "Okay, take a message."

They stalked by him, equally angered at his action, which Emily seemed to find highly amusing by her snort as she inhaled deeply. She didn't care much, apart from the lack of music she'd have while scrubbing that shit off the walls, she got away from the constant messages that Lewis was sending her and she had a reasonable excuse, so if he got pissy, she could just call him a wanker.

She wished that wasn't how she thought of him. He sure had put a downer on her day.

The walk to the locker room was filled with angry offenders whining about not having their technology and mocking the probation worker, which she supposed was fair and also a bit unfair. It still put her on the brink of tearing her hair out and eating it to aid her in death.

"Did you just spank him?" Emily sniggered at the look on Curtis' face; like Nathan had just beaten his mum or something actually violent and serious instead of a sneaky, innocent slap to the arse. Maybe Curtis felt harassed.

"Woah, no homo, love." He blew a kiss in Curtis' direction, then kicked the door to the locker room, making it slam against the wall with a loud clang.

"Ah, of course." She breathed, tutting as if she had been an idiot "Silly me." Nathan sent her a strange grin; lips stretched taught and eyes closed with his nose scrunched up. She raised an eyebrow and then spun to her locker, yanking out her jumpsuit, ignoring the constipated look that had fallen over the twat's face.

"Is 'e allowed to take our phones?" He questioned after a while "He's probably using them to call one of those sex lines."

"Those sex lines will eat all your credit." Stated Curtis.

"Call them a lot, do you?" Alisha smirked in his direction.

"Funny." He shot back.

Emily rolled the sleeves of the jumpsuit up slightly, and then did the same to the legs, fiddling with the little plaited anklet that she'd had for too long and should probably bin – Abbey's daughter can deal with the fact that it was getting kind of gross now, after three years. God, it's depressing that Abbey is the same age as her and already has a steady job, two kids, a good, love-filled marriage and a house. What has _she_ got? Shit, this was why she didn't visit her anymore; it was probably too depressing to go there anymore.

"He's out there, filmin' himself on our phones, naked. Masturbatin'."

Emily grimaced, pausing in brushing her tangled hair out to send a grim expression the twat's way, only earning a shit-eating grin in response "Nice mental image there."

"Why would 'e do that?"

"Because he can."

"Wot 'appened to your wrist?" Kelly eyed her purple blotched wrist with pursed lips and questionable eyes "Are you awright?"

Fuck. If Kelly found out...What would happen? Lewis would slap her fucking silly if she found out she let it slip, and it pissed her off that she wasn't even being figurative. She could blame a rowdy guy in a Tesco car park, or an angry mum in a Morrison's who wanted the last Nesquick but Emily already had it in the trolley-

" _Wot_?" Kelly exclaimed, eyes wide, making everyone turn to them curiously.

"What?" Emily echoed, confused.

Kelly blinked, then turned back to her locker "Don' worry." She muttered, disregarding the entire situation that just occurred. She shrugged and got back to tying her hair up, nudging Nathan out of the way to peer at herself in the mirror.

"Pull your jumpsuit up, you twat." She said idly.

"Why? Can't keep your hands off this sculptured Adonis?" He stroked his hands up and down his nudge torso, only managing to get a disgusted expression from most of the members in the room.

"Yeah, sure." She deadpanned.

"Woah, calm down on the enthusiasm, four-eyes."

"That won't be a problem."

"I think she likes me." Nathan turned to Curtis with a grin, making him scoff and turn back to his locker, declining Alisha's offer of a fag "Give it here. Come on." Nathan took it from her and placed it in his mouth "Y'know, love, this is technically an indirect kiss."

"Prick." Alisha snapped.

* * *

There are people in this world who appear to be a stereotype and defy them, like a ditzy girl who wears polka dot dresses but listens to hardcore, head-banging rock music, or a popular boy prided on his masculinity turned out to be ace at make-up or fashion.

But, then there are the people who live up to their stereotypes, such as Alisha. Splayed on the bench, stereo blaring, with her jumpsuit rolled down to her waist, showing her tits off as she tanned in the rare sun that blessed Britain every century. Follow her presenting herself to the practically salivating Curtis, she finished off her speech with a 'feel free to check out my tits, yeah?' and goes back to tanning.

So, you can't blame Emily for stereotyping, can you? Can you really?

"Y'know after the storm, ya? Did any o' yous feel like dead weird?" Kelly suddenly asked, turning between Nathan and Emily.

"Yeah. I had a strange tingling sensation in my anus." Nathan exclaimed.

"That's probably an STI. You should get that checked out." Emily piped up, scrubbing almost violently against the wall, smirking at Nathan when he mockingly laughed. Kelly dragged out a sigh of aggravation and went back to scrubbing "Does your silence speak the truth?"

"Why'd you wanna know, four eyes?" He smirked, leaning his arm on the soaked wall "Wanna make sure the goods are clean before jumpin' em?"

"Can't a girl be curious about her potentially infected co-offender?" She queried, smirking, prodding him in the chest and going back to scrubbing the wall and pointedly ignoring him when he leered at her.

"Wot, did you feel weird?" Kelly suddenly asked Simon, stalking up to him and managing to make the invisible boy shrink in on himself ten times more than per usual.

"What? You don't want to hear about my anus?" Nathan whinged, and reached back to clutch at his arse with his hands, squeezing.

"Do you really need to ask the question?" Curtis exclaimed to him with disgust.

"Something happened." Simon mumbled quietly.

"What's that? Squeak up!" Nathan piped.

"Something happened to me." Simon continued, voice trembling slightly.

"Are you a virgin? High fiiiiive-"

"Shut op!" Kelly shouted at him "Wot-Wot was it?"

The tiny amount of confidence that Kelly may have given him faded – it shrivelled up like up like a deflating balloon and died. His shoulders slumped slightly and he turned to stare at the wall "It's nothing." He said, and went back to half-heartedly scrubbing the wall.

Promptly after this, Kelly spun on her heels to peer at Nathan, disgust and fury swimming in her eyes when she lunged out and shoved him hard, narrowly dodging hitting Emily. Nathan tripped over his bucket and almost slammed straight into the ground before catching himself.

"What was that for?" Nathan yelled as Kelly stormed off.

There's a moment of tense silence – so tense that she was sure you could hear a penny drop – when Alisha snickers and Emily voiced everyone's thought "I've known you for less than a day and it honestly seems like you actively want people to hate you. It's either you're a nasty cunt or you're an oblivious cunt."

"Why not both?" Curtis snorted, whilst Nathan scoffed in the background.

* * *

"It's a shame more women don't commit crimes – since four-eyes is taken, we're a girl short. There's three of us, three of them, it should work fine, if she weren't in a fuckin' committed relationship." Emily snorted from where she was sprawled on the sofa "It looks like one of us is goin' without. And I'm not bein' funny, but I'm guessin' you drew the short straw. Bad luck. That is unless four eyes' boyfriend don't mind a little voyeurism, he into that?" He called over to her, making her twist onto her stomach.

"He's more of a hair puller, y'know?" She replied with a wink, snickering while Nathan licked his lips, and got a whack and a disgusted look from Curtis.

"There were four of us." Simon stated quietly.

"I'm talkin' about getting' laid. So how are we goin' to do this man?" Curtis raised an eyebrow in confusion "Divide them up. Cos I gotta tell ya, the one with all the frizzy hair, I don't see me and her getting' it on" Emily laughed into her arms; she loved how he was plotting this, it was pure gold. She particularly liked how Simon kept glancing at her like she was a ticking time bomb.

"Cos she's beautiful?" Curtis grinned to himself – probably already real proud of himself, knowing she'd probably fuck him instead of the other two.

"No, cos she'd be way too much effort. She looks seriously high maintenance man, like you'd have to treat her really well, pfft…I woulda gone for four-eyes, yknow? The messy hair, the glasses, like a naughty librarian, plus Asians are always super kinky. That hentai shit, yeah? But she's really put a downer on the situation, bein' in a 'committed relationship'." Nathan called, as if to be sure she heard and felt guilty for ruining this experience for him.

"Aw, sorry for ruining your community service experience, mate." She pouted mockingly at him, then rolled onto her back once more to count the ceiling lights.

"Ya should be sorry! This coulda been a riot but look what you've done!" He called back, then after she waved in the air - as if to brush it aside, he continued "As I was sayin', the other one, uh," He clicked his fingers, as if doing so would help him to remember her name

"Kelly." Simon told him, looking at him like the twat he is.

"Whatever. A couple of Bacardi breezers, man, I reckon she'd be good to go." He wiggled his hips with a sultry grin "I might need more than a couple myself, but who's countin'?"

"Yeah, and the girls, like, do they have any say in this?" Curtis questioned, obviously knowing the answer but asking the question anyway.

"He's speaking for everybody here, man." She called over, sitting up and waltzing over, resting her arm on Curtis' shoulder "Look at it through his eyes, yeah? A mindless group of genital-crazed, young offenders doing shit that hardly matters. It sounds like the start of a porno. Even I can't deny that."

"Exactly! She gets it!" Nathan cheered excitedly, slinging an arm over her shoulders, making Curtis grunt at the extra weight and sneer up at him - he held such venom for the prick, it amused Emily to a T.

"Well, I think I'm imagining the scenario a bit differently." She said "You're a twink, for starters." Curtis suddenly snorted loudly, smirk crooked on his lips as he laughed and a small smirk appeared on Simon's lips, while Emily was too busy smiling at the bewildered and slightly offended looking Nathan, who held a hand to his chest.

"Very funny, four-eyes, harharhar." He mocked, hands on hips with a mock glare in her direction before he placed his hand up and spat loudly into it and held it out to Curtis "Well, do we have a deal?"

Curtis looked at it in pure disgust before bluntly saying "No."

"Fine, maybe I'll take both." Nathan frowned, offended, and wiped his spit on his jumpsuit, Emily suddenly found that she couldn't contain her amusement at this and barked out a laugh, covering her mouth with a hand.

"Sorry," She apologised, biting back a smile "That just... _surprised_ me."

"I think we all know we don't see that happenin'." Curtis commented with a smirk.

"Yeah, you will see it and then you'll be sorry you didn't accept the deal. And then who's laughin'? Me- Oh, for fuck sake, knock it off, four-eyes!" Nathan exclaimed

"Oh c'mon, it's just so-" She laughed, breathlessly, and paused to catch her breath, brushing a few strands of hair from her face "What a fucking twat."

"What did he get done for?" Curtis asked, lips pursed in distaste.

Simon peered at Emily, still slightly amused at her trying to recover from Nathan making a fool of himself a few moments back, then mumbled to Curtis "He said he was done for eating some Pic N Mix." Curtis turned to him in disbelief before twisting to face the door where he just exited.

" _Prick_."

* * *

"While you're at it, d'you wanna rugby tackle the vending machine a few more times and get me a coke?" Emily called, wheeling herself over to him when she heard a can tumble from the machine to the collect box.

"No way, four eyes, not after you bullyin' me like there's no tomorrow." He shot back and placed his foot on the arm of her wheelchair and kicked forwards, pushing her back into the wall.

"Buzzkill." She booed. He leered at her, plonking down in another wheelchair, and sped towards her quickly; her eyes widened as she attempted to wheel away before he slammed into her but to no avail, his wheelchair knocked right into hers and tipped her off hers, making her clutter to the floor with a long string of curses " _Bastard_!" She snapped, twisting onto her arse and rubbing her coccyx with a groan.

"You're a prick." Curtis sneered at him.

"Like you're any better?" Nathan replied with a crinkle of his nose "You alright, four eyes? Need me to kiss it better?" He sent her a wet looking kiss in the air and she grimaced.

"I'm good, thanks. Don't think I could handle the trauma." She responded with a noise of annoyance, Emily shuffled along to floor to sit against the wall, crossing her legs to fiddle with her anklet .

"When I was in sixth form, you came to my school." Alisha suddenly piped up after a considerable amount of silence had gone by – she was splayed on her sofa with her legs out and chewing her gum loudly, as per usual "You gave this big talk about athletics and all your medals and that."

"So, I'm guessin' you're not goin' to the Olympics?" Nathan leant back, stirring shit like he usually did, earning another hiss from the failed athlete.

"I heard he was dealin' crack." Alisha said with a smirk.

"What? I wasn't dealin' crack!" Curtis exclaimed, scandalised.

"Nah, it was heroin." Emily chirped up, giving up on the do-good shit and stirring the shit with the other two, tangling her fingers together as she sent a raised eyebrow in his direction and mischievous grin.

"It wasn't heroin!"

"No, no, no, the papers said it was steroids." Nathan stated, peering down at his undone shoelace with a purse of his lips before looking back up at Curtis.

"That stuff will shrivel your dick." Alisha commented, leaning backwards with a mocking smile on her face. How she knew that, Emily was both curious, and didn't want to know.

"And you know this, how?" Emily queried curiously, deciding to go with her instinct "Bigger the muscles, smaller the dick, I guess."

"It wasn't steroids. I'm not a cheat." Curtis said angrily "That stuff in the papers was bullshit." Emily shrugged, stretching her legs out. This was all interesting, but honestly, she was getting curious as to where the probation worker was – now that she thought about it, he was a pretty shit probation worker; ditching them during their work and leaving them to just sit around and bitch at each other.

After they'd given up on their half-arsed job at scrubbing the threatening graffiti off the walls, they'd picked their shit up and heaved it all back inside, and now here they were, dissing the guy that had achieved more than any of the other fucktards had, and yet screwed it all over for himself.

"Yeah, so what was it then?" Alisha practically demanded.

Curtis gritted his teeth, flexing his fingers before saying "I got caught with a little bit of coke. Alright? I messed up one time." Emily shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"Wow, the system sure is a buzzkill, huh?" She droned "Can't even get high in peace these days."

Alisha scoffed "No one get's community service for possession."

"If it was anyone else, they'd have got a caution. I get 200 hours of community service and a two year ban from athletics." He exclaimed, obviously quite upset at the situation he put himself in – the poor thing, she thought to herself with a scoff "They said 'cos of my profile, they needed to send a message."

Nathan's smirk widened "You let yourself down." Emily dug her head into her knees to hide her growing smirk, while Alisha doesn't seem to care and is full on giggling, clutching her water bottle to her chest "You let the _kids_ down."

"You know he's stronger than you, he could beat you up reasonably badly." Emily idly commented.

Nathan, who obviously lacked any common sense or logic, continued "You let your _parents_ down-"

Suddenly, it was like a chord had snapped inside of Curtis, as he lunged out, eyes ablaze as his hands grappled at Nathan's collar, picking him up, straight from that wheelchair and lashing out at him, spit probably flying all over his face as he roared "All I ever did was train! You know nothing! I shouldn't even fucking be here!" Emily groaned aloud at his self-pity.

"You can't hit someone in a wheelchair." Nathan exclaimed, breathily, obviously not expecting the sudden fury that emanated from Curtis. He sneered at him, and slammed him back, knocking him into the back wall and walking away; the flames had died down and a dark tension filled the air.

"D'you wanna know what I got done for?" Alisha asked, breaking the tense silence.

Nathan screwed his nose up "Not really."

"Me and my mate Chloe were having cocktails in this bar, yeah, and she's hassling me, cos she wants to go to this party. Chloe is on one, because she thinks that Jack is doing Lucy. A total slut fuck. So, we get in my car. I drive us to the party. We go into one of the rooms, yeah. Jack's not doing Lucy, he's doing Ellie. She is a proper slut. Chloe freaks. I'm driving us back into town. Chloe's all like 'oh I feel sick' and I'm like 'don't puke in my car, do not puke in my car.' That's when the police pull us over. I'm already banned from driving so I am like 'fuck.' This cop, yeah, he hands be the breathalyser, and I'm like, 'Do I suck, or blow?'"

This is followed by a detailed demonstration of Alisha giving her water bottle a blowjob, making Emily nod, impressed – she was pretty good – while the boys hardly managed to hide their erections at the scene "It's insane, I'm totally working it." She continued, making the boys shuffle where they're sitting, and Emily just watched, indifferent, perhaps unamused by the situation, but can appreciate skill when she saw it.

"Now, I don't know if this cop is gay or what, but he tells me that I'm four times over the limit." She sighed "It's bullshit. I didn't even want to go to the party."

"Maybe he just thought you and the breathalyser hit it off." Emily suggested with a tilt of the head, then pulled her hand up to press her glasses further up the bridge of her nose.

"Well, what did you do?" She asked, half incredulous and half curious "Everyone else has said; is yours really bad or somefing?" Emily shrugged with an amused grin.

"Kind of the exact opposite, actually. But I dunno if anyone will be listening after your demonstration." She replied, sending knowing looks to the three boys, who quickly turned away quickly, minus from Nathan who grinned at her "Nicked some prescription drugs from a local boots."

"That's it?" Alisha sounded bored already.

"I could spice it up with a bit of wording; adjectives and that shit, if you really want me to." Emily said to her as seriously as possible "A* in English, I could make it into a James Bond novel if I fuckin' try."

"Uh, no thanks." Alisha rolled her eyes.

"Your loss, it would've been delightful." She replied, shrugging her shoulders carelessly, inspecting her cuticles idly.

"Next time, ya should steal those shitty, own brand, vibrators they sell. If ya got caught, they'd be into it ya know?" Nathan suggested, earning a scoff of disgust from Curtis. He suddenly gasped "Now that's the start of a porno, four-eyes! Do you get paid for writin' scripts for those or some shit?"

"Probably- "Emily started, when suddenly the door's slammed open, and Kelly scrambled inside, falling to the ground, chest heaving breathlessly as if she had been running for a good amount of time, eyes filled with horror as she climbed to her feet and slammed the door closed once more, checking the lock once, then twice and then a third time.

"'E's gonna kill os!" Kelly shrieked.

She stared at the tear tracks streaming down her cheeks, only noticeable due to her eyeliner and lip trembling and eyes truly terrified. She knew that look. How did this go from 0 to 100 so quickly?

* * *

 **A/N: edited this chapter slightly, thanks for reading! Please leave a review, they help grow my crops x**


	3. Tony, the Psycho

**A/N: I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT WRITING FOR SO LONG. My inspiration flew out the window and I didn't want to give you bad quality content! Anyway, thank you so much to Ronnie.H, charityf1915, flaymecloser, hannahisabannana, thewordmajestic, NikkiReedfanfor and Deadbirdsleeping favouriting/following! So much for keeping this story going, am I right? So sorry for leaving it for months on end, I will try to update when I can!**

 **holly: thanks so much for reviewing and reading, I really appreciate it, and I'm really glad Emily is interesting so far!**

 **Ronnie. H: Thanks so much for reviewing! I'm really glad you like Emily! And I know what you mean, and I'm going to try to complete this! I actually do have someone I envision as Emily: Kiko Mizuhara , but with longer black hair.**

 **Deadbirdsleeping: Thank you for reading and commenting! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! I'm really glad that Emily fits in and doesn't seem to just be there for the romance, I really want her to fit in like she's meant to be there.**

* * *

Nathan mockingly clapped "Nice entrance, very dramatic!" He exclaimed.

""The probation worker's gone mental, he just attacked me! Somefin' really weird is happenin', I'm hearin' these voices in me 'ead, it's like I can hear what people are finkin!" Kelly exclaimed hysterically, earning a few mocking glances from her co-offenders.

"Aw, have you been sniffing glue?" Alisha said in a mocking tone, smirk on her face.

"That fucks up your kidney." Emily piped up.

"The storm, the lightnin', I dunno, it's done somefin to os!" Emily turned to her, almost serious, when she completely flew over the dig at her – usually she'd lash out, spout some incredibly original insult at her like ' _I'll make your cunt feel like pins and needles for the rest o' your life.'_ She never just _ignored_ it.

"So, you're like a female, chavvy version of Professor X?" Emily raised her eyebrow, earning both a furious glare from Kelly and confused expressions from everyone else, minus Simon, who seemed to perk up like a baby rabbit finding its mother after a few days alone in the bitter wilderness "You know what, forget it."

"Your glasses don't deceive us then – you are a twatty nerd!" Nathan exclaimed, turning to Kelly again when Emily flipped him the bird, bored with his shit "Okay, if you can hear our thoughts, then what am I thinkin' now?" He shoved his fingertips to rest on his temples and screwed his face up slightly.

Kelly's eyes flared with anger, then she lashed out, spit flying "You fink its bullshit!"

He scoffed "Of course I think it's bullshit, you don't need to be a mind reader to know that." He replied disbelievingly, rolling his eyes at her. The absolutely seething expression on Kelly's face eased for a moment as she stared at him, sitting in the wheelchair, suddenly becoming confused.

"Why are you in a wheelchair?" She demanded.

"It was the storm," Kelly's face dropped in shock, concern waving over her face – Emily felt a sudden wave of guilt for being a bitch to the girl, she was truly lovely behind the abruptness and the ruthlessness "The strange tingling sensation in my anus spread through my body and now, I can't feel my legs."

Her expression of concern faded and she furrowed her brows in anger, raising her leg up and slamming her foot on his leg, making him cry out "I'm serious!"

"What d'you mean the probation worker attacked you?" Curtis asked, disbelievingly.

"This does sound like complete shit." Alisha deadpanned.

"'E's out there and 'e chased me!" Kelly shrieked.

"He was acting weird since the storm." Emily piped up, crossing her arms over her chest and moving her eyes across the group with indifference "Maybe he _has_ gone mental. Why would she lie about that shit anyway?" Kelly turned to, whipping her head her way – she wished she hadn't called her a chavvy version of Professor X, despite that kind of being a compliment. She obviously hadn't taken it that way. Kelly sent her a grateful expression that eased the weight of Emily's chest slightly.

"Something's happened to me too." Simon suddenly said – voice wrangled, as if it took a lot for him to say that. All eyes turned to him, and he shifted on the spot; eyes moving down to peer at his shoes then forcing them back up.

"Did you pop your cherry?" Nathan exclaimed "Ah, we're all very happy for ya!"

"Earlier on, when we were in the locker room, I was invisible." He mumbled, obviously not used to such attention being focused on him "I turned invisible."

"So, she's psychic and you can turn invisible. That seems likely, yeah." Curtis huffed out a laugh.

"Yeah, did anyone witness this miraculous disappearance?" Nathan asked, an irritating expression on his face – Emily uncrossed her arms and turned to Simon.

"You were all there!" By now, it almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

"I think we might have noticed you vanishing into thin air." Alisha scoffed.

"You didn't. I was standing right there; you couldn't see me." Panted Simon – getting noticeably worked up over how nobody seemed to believe him. Emily toyed with the sleeves of her jumpsuit.

She was trying to be reasonable about the situation as there could be many reasons they thought they were fucking superheroes, straight from Marvel: LSD or Angel Dust made you hallucinate, maybe they'd been doing a bit of that and bam, she thought she was a psychic and he swore he turned invisible! Or, nightmare? She'd probably have nightmares about these dickheads any night.

"Alright. Go on then. Do it. Turn invisible." Nathan demanded, struggling to wheel himself over to Simon and staring up at him, obviously awaiting the failure of Simon's attempt at turning invisible. Emily leaned forwards, wanting evidence herself when he made a variety of strange head movements and noises that made her grimace slightly.

Nathan's face went slack and his eyes widened, going dazed and he peered around "He's disappeared!" Nathan mocked, and Simon actually believed him, believed the twat that Nathan is and began to stammer and stumble over his words.

"Can't you see me?" Simon stuttered out.

"No." Nathan breathed, and then raised his empty can and threw it onto Simon's forehead – earning a deep, purely done sigh from Emily "You're invisible!"

"Ok, ok," Emily said, holding her hands out to calm to tension growing "Maybe the probation worker is going on a murderous rampage; that's more fucking believable than superpowers. That's complete bullshit." She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

" _Exactly_! Even four-eyes doesn't believe ya, and she's level-headed!" Nathan exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air and turning to her "You two are hilarious, really. Keep takin' that medication. Care to give me a head start to the door, four-eyes?" He beckoned to himself, then the door and she scowled at him.

"Don't go out there, he will kill ya!" Kelly yelled, eyes wide.

"Yeah, cos he's such a badass." Nathan shot back, wheeling his way to the door.

She lurched out, and grabbed his arm, he turned back to her, face twisted in a 'are you fucking kidding me, four eyes?' expression "Maybe you shouldn't." She said to him.

"Oh, fuck _off_ four eyes, don't be such a pussy." He scoffed at her, and although she felt sure something bad was going on and that opening the door would make the world shift in some way, he still made her feel like a total and utter fool. He turned back to the door.

Emily lips pursed; uneasiness settled in her stomach. She might not believe in the superpower business, but she believed the probation worker reached the end of his rope. He had seemed far more abrupt and lacked any patience after the storm.

With a wave of discomfort, Emily turned away, in time to catch a glimpse of the look of constipation on Curtis' face "She's telling the truth!" He burst out, making Nathan snort and Alisha scoff

"And you'd know this how? I suppose you're physic too?" Nathan grinned mockingly.

"All this, it's already happened once. I opened the door, the probation worker; he killed you." He turned to Kelly, eyes wide and horrified – as if he had truly witnessed something traumatic. She knew those kind of eyes and it was like a rock settled in her stomach. "You were right there, you were dead. Everything froze. Time went backwards." Curtis tells us, breathing heavily.

"Time travelling? Who are you, fucking Doctor Who?" Emily furrowed her brows in disbelief. He turned to her with wide eyes and furrowed brows.

"It's true!"

"Can you stop with these stupid, nerdy references?" Nathan shot at her. "Nobody gets them!"

"I do." Simon mumbled out.

"Shut it, freak!" Nathan spat at him. Emily glared at him, though it seemed the thick tension in the air was putting him on edge too.

"So, you're sayin' you turned back time?" Alisha scoffed.

"This just gets better by the second." Nathan laughed.

"Everything happened again! _Exactly_ the same, I'm tellin' you, DON'T OPEN THAT DOOR!" Curtis' yelled in desperation but his fury went unnoticed by Nathan, who shuffled over and opened the door anyway. Emily gripped her hands together tightly as she watched the bastard's eyes widen and face twist into fear, but snapped out of her intense daze when he slammed the door closed again.

"He's right! The probation worker's gone mental!" He breathed in shock, leaning against the doors heavily. Suddenly, the shadow of the probation worker appeared and he heaved his body against the door, making Nathan shriek and dash away.

Emily stumbled into the group huddle, absently digging her nails into her palms "Maybe he's on crystal meth. I mean, that stuff makes you crazy." Alisha suggested, voice panicked "My friend Chloe did it and she nearly shagged her brother. And he's really ugly."

"How is that where your mind is right now?!" Emily exclaimed in confusion, ignoring the angry fish look Alisha sent her, but went back to panicking the fuck out.

"The graffiti. I'm going to kill you. He wrote it." Simon said in sudden realisation.

"What did I say – I said there was a hidden meaning!" Nathan cried "Or not."

"I prefer the monkey police and the Tescos bag." Emily murmured, tugging on the sleeves of her jumpsuit and keeping her eyes locked on the door for any sudden, unwanted movements.

"Same here, love, not gonna lie." Nathan said, and Emily pondered for a split second on how odd he sounded when afraid. He somewhat _suited_ being a cocky piece of shit.

There was another roar and the probation worker's large, stocky body slammed against the door, making her wince and swallow thickly "Did anyfing 'appen to you?" Kelly demanded Alisha, who looked at her in disdain and fear, lips trembling.

"No! W-We should call the police!" Alisha yelled.

Simon's head trembled as he shook his head "He took our phones, he's got all our phones." Oh _shit_. Emily shoved her hand in her pocket, feeling her stomach hollow out and ache. Great. This was probably karma or some shit. After being relieved to be away from Lewis' constant messages, she is now being hunted down by a homicidal probation worker out for blood.

What even _was_ her life?

"He's stopped." Curtis said, breaking the silence.

" _Don't jinx it_." Emily practically begged.

"You dickhead, why did you come back here? You should have gone for help!" Alisha sneered to Kelly, who turned to her in pure shock and pure fury on her face.

"Wot do you know, bitch!" She shot back.

"Shut up, you _chav_."

"D'you know if you call me a chav one more time, I'll kick you so hard in the cunt your mum will feel it." Alisha backed up, obviously threatened but also properly pouting. Emily was a hair strand away from tearing her hair out in frustration or having a mental breakdown.

"Her mum'll feel it? How does that work?" Nathan questioned in confusion.

"I think it's supposed to be a figure of speech." Emily said.

"'E tried to kill me! I came back to warn yous lot and I could 'ave jus' left ya! I'm sick o' every single one o' ya judgin' me. You can all fuck off!" Kelly barked out, seeming to be at the end of her rope. Emily felt another swarm of guilt pool in her stomach.

"Yeah, whatever, I'm getting out of here." Alisha said dismissively, beginning to stalk down the corridor.

"Come on, out the back way!" Nathan called, running alongside her. Emily paused, and peered at Kelly out of the corner of her eye, then began to walk down the corridor as well, feeling slightly lightheaded, as if this was merely a nightmare that she would wake up from.

But this wasn't like her usual nightmares. Her nightmares were full of shadows around corners and _waiting_ _for impact_. Never running from her crazed probation worker. She'd tell Lewis about this and he'd hum and say 'don't over-exaggerate, love, I know when you're lying." And she'd leave it, even if it was the truth but she'd make dinner and they'd watch 'Only Fools and Horses' until they fell asleep.

That was only if she made it out alive.

She narrowly dodged the liquid seeping out of the locker – which she noted was red and thicker than water, it was far back in her panic-fogged mind but she definitely registered it in her brain – but Nathan hadn't been as lucky and went flying, slamming to the ground with a groan.

"Are you okay?" She found herself asking, although what she really wanted to say was 'get the fuck up, we need to run so we don't end up like whoever's in the locker.'

"Just fuckin' dandy." He groaned, opening his eyes and staring at the ground. It was odd, watching his face twist with horror as he scrambled to his feet "Oh fuck! Jesus Christ! Get off me! Jesus!" He yelled, scrubbing his hands on his jumpsuit.

"Is that blod?!" Kelly exclaimed.

"No, course it ain't, why would you think that?" Emily said sarcastically, but her voice sounded distant, like her head was shoved in a bucket of water.

Curtis was the unlucky sod to start approaching the locker. She backed off, watching from afar, peering around her and waiting, waiting for the probation worker to come in and beat her- beat them all, beat them till their heads caved in and their hearts stopped beating and nobody would give a _fucking shit._

The locker door slammed open, it was enough to make her jump from her thoughts, and the lifeless body of Hardman hung, lodged in the locker, coated in blood. She stared, frozen still where she stood and felt her heart beating erratically in her chest.

"Gary." She said. Staring at how his blood collected by his ears, hardened and thick. She felt vomit rise in her throat, and she was tempted to just let it happen, but she swallowed it down and breathed as calmly as she could with the slashed-up corpse of her co-offender shoved in a locker like he was an object to be treated so horribly and to be hidden away.

Like he was _nothing_.

"I did wonder what had happened to him." Nathan breathed out.

It was like a wave of realisation had wafted over the group. There was a silence that could only be explained as 'what do we do now?' It was a matter of life or death, and Emily never thought she would have to say that seriously again until now.

"He's gonna kill us." Alisha whimpered out.

"Turn back time, stop this from happenin'." Nathan said to Curtis, eying him with both contempt and a begging. She understood. He didn't want to live this trauma and she got that. None of them did, but she bet her life that, by the look on Curtis' face, that they wouldn't be saved from dealing with this shite.

Fucking superpowers.

"I don't know how it works!" Curtis replied, panicked and wide-eyed.

"It's alright." She said.

"That's great!" Nathan mocked "That's really useful!"

"It's _alright_." She said again, louder. This time, they actually heard her.

"It's not." Nathan said "It's really fuckin' not."

"People don't rely on time travelling. They deal with shit even if they don't want to cos' they _have_ to." She snapped at him, and he stopped his stupid face-scrunching at Curtis to look at her "It doesn't fucking exist, we can't blame other people for this shit. _Okay_ , _prick_?"

He didn't answer, and had they not been in this situation, she would have laughed in his face. He looked like a twat, eyebrows practically touching his hairline and eyes so wide it looked downright wrong.

Curtis nodded at her, and turned to the whimpering Alisha and placed a hand on her back "Come on. Don't look at it." He reached for her hand comfortingly.

It didn't end how Emily had expected it too really. She'd expected them all to run, Curtis and Alisha hand in hand, but Curtis' libido sprung to life and he gasped, loud and clear, the bulge in his jumpsuit was most certainly his rock-hard penis and he wrestled Alisha for dominance, face locked in one of pleasure.

"I've got to have sex with you, right now!" Curtis groaned "You're _so_ beautiful. Let's go, let's do it now.

"What's up with him?" Nathan exclaimed.

"Are you fucking kidding me, guy?" She deadpanned.

"Get off me you freak!" Alisha shrieked, shoving him off with all her strength. The minute her hands left his skin, his face set back to normal, and he panted for breath. He breathes out a confused 'what' and that only makes Alisha sneer furiously and raise her hand to slap the hell out of him, until he grabbed her wrists, and the same thing happened.

He went rigid. "You're so hot! I'm gonna bone you, I'm gonna shag you senseless." He growled to her.

It felt kind of wrong that they were just standing there and not helping Alisha in any way at all. Like, she didn't look happy in that situation, they probably should help her. Especially since Curtis was unbuckling his belt-

"Jesus!" She shouted, marching over and shoving Curtis as hard as she could. It wasn't much seeing that it was a 5'7 weakling against a 6' athlete but he stumbled and ultimately let go of Alisha, gasping for breath. She distantly heard Nathan say something like 'battle ready' but she ignored him "Mate, the fuck? There's enough crime going on here, don't need to add any of that shit into it."

"What the fuck, Em?" He groaned, this time due to pain, not pleasure "What did I do?"

"Uh, you said you were gonna shag 'er." Kelly told him.

"You were getting' yer chap out." Nathan told him.

"Shut up!" Curtis exclaimed.

"Have we forgotten about the murderous probation worker?" Emily piped up, but apparently her worrying about them dying wasn't as big of a deal as a discussion they can have _somewhere other than here_ where it's fucking safe _._

"It's when you were touching her." Simon said. His voice shocked her, she'd almost forgotten he was there. Alisha froze in her spot, and stared at her hands. It reminded her of moments in Anime where they'd lift their hands up into the sky and stare at it. She'd always thought it was dumb, what's the point of it? She often mocked it in high school and her mates always laughed.

She pressed her hand to the jugular of Simon's neck and he lifted his head up high, gasping for breath, mouth falling open in a perfect 'O' shape. "I'm so hard for you." He gasped out "I want to rip your clothes off and piss on your tits."

Alisha let go and shrieked " _What is happening to me?!"_

"You are terrifying." Emily commented to Simon.

"Yeah, you sick bastard!" Nathan grimaced.

And the climax – pun intended - of the situation happened like they always do.

 _Suddenly_.

It was the sound of glass shattering and the sound of the jagged line of metal in the probation worker's hand – it was the clang against the tiles. It was his messed-up sounding groans, like he wasn't all there, like he'd suddenly lost most of his brain cells.

It was the feel of his thick, rough fingers wrapping around her ankle and _holding on_.

She screamed, and he did too. She couldn't get her legs or arms to co-ordinate with her properly, she stumbled and tripped but the probation worker held on tight, and raised whatever was in his hand. Emily's heart was in her throat, and she had already pissed herself a little bit, and didn't care if it was noticeable.

She hadn't been this afraid in so long.

Then, there was Kelly screaming, shouting, huffing and puffing. She felt lighter, and felt better curled up with her face buried in her knees and arms around her legs, trying to hide from him and everyone else.

There was shouting and yelling, maybe at her, maybe at their probation worker, maybe at Kelly. She didn't know. All she could hear was herself. Her heartbeat pumping too fast in her chest, her blood rushing in her ears, she could taste the bile in her throat and the blood in her mouth from biting her tongue.

Then. There was silence.

Emily lifted her head.

"What the fuck." She whispered, nose blocked and eyes stinging from tears she didn't know had been falling from her eyes and streaming down her face. She could smell the iron-y scent of blood in the air and see that the floor was at least 2 metres below her.

She was fucking hovering.

"How-What-What's _happening_?" She found herself stammering out. Eyes locked on the corpse, head smashed to pieces with a bloodied can of paint by it. They were all staring at her, like she was some _freak_. Maybe she was one, but they didn't have to stare. Didn't their parents ever tell them it was rude?

"We don't know." Simon was the one to reply.

"…How're you doin' that?" Alisha asked, breath hitching.

Emily inhaled deeply, trying to calm her unstill heart, but the sight of the bloody, caved in head of the probation worker made her feel nauseous. She was falling to the ground before she even realised what was happening. Her arse slammed into the tiles and she groaned, leaning her head against the wall. She whispered to herself, a sense of disbelief hung around her. Both about the fact that she was levitating, and that Kelly was a murderer.

Had Kelly seriously just killed their probation worker? On their first day? Surely you should at least wait a week before you go bludgeoning his head in with a can of paint. But that was just her. It was inexplainable that Emily was levitating, no science, no logic, nothing. It made her sound like a prick when she was bashing on about how the superpowers were shite.

Alisha exclaimed, jerking Emily from her thoughts "You killed our probation worker!" As if Kelly didn't already fucking _know_ that.

"This is very, very bad." Nathan breathed, hands over his temples.

"I feel sick." Alisha gagged.

"'E woulda killed 'os!" Kelly yelled, defending her actions.

"We should call the police! It was self-defence!" Curtis suggested, sounding a bit desperate and not wholly convinced.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's right. We show him the dead boy in the locker and they'll do some CSI shit and figure it all out." Alisha scrambled for words, obviously looking for light in the darkness. It would probably work in their favour, really.

"They won't believe 'os!" Kelly yelled.

"We just tell them the truth, stick to our story!" Curtis tried.

"Wha's our story? They can turn invisible, they can turn back time, they can fuckin' levitate? It doesn't matta wot we tell 'em, they'll say we're lyin! They'll say that we killed them both! No-one's gonna believe ya, not anymore!"

"You sure about that, or are you just dragging everyone else into this because you're the only one who's fucked up here?" Emily said to her. Kelly killed the guy, not them. Technically, the 'we' Kelly kept going on about was just 'Kelly'. Emily's stomach twisted, with guilt at the notion of ratting her out and the scent of iron in the air.

"We're all in this." Kelly replied, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed angrily. Emily wanted to shout on. She wanted to scream at her, that they were innocent, she was dragging them down with her, she was doing this. "If we tell _anyone_ , we're _fucked_."

Kelly's expression hardened. Maybe she expected Emily to spout this all out, tell this to everyone, get ideas in their heads. Make them run from Kelly, make them dob on her.

"Fine." Emily said, after a moment "What do we do?"

"If there's no body, there's no crime." Simon murmured, rubbing his clammy palm over his fringe "We should bury them under the flyover."

"Yeah? How do we do that? someone's gonna see us." Alisha barked out.

"No, no, no, no." Nathan suddenly said "We give 'em a quick little," He whistles obnoxiously "Right? We put 'em in those wheelchairs, wheel 'em up there and if anyone sees us, we're just a bunch of young offender's takin' a couple a specials for a walk in the sunshine."

He was panting by the time he was finished. It was the only noise in the tense silence of the room where it happened.

"That could work." She half-heartedly agreed.

* * *

When Emily was eleven and a half, her hamster: Daniel, died. She was heartbroken, but refused to let her parents or big brother dig his grave, since he loved her the most, she should be the one to say goodbye to him.

So, she dug a little grave for him with her little pink shovel and placed the tiny little box that his body was in and covered it in dirt. She then stuck the cross made out of sticks that Tyler, her brother, made for Daniel.

This was different.

She stared down at the corpses; thrown into the hole they had dug like dolls the kid didn't want anymore.

"Pretty sure this breaches the terms of my ASBO." Nathan commented, already starting to sound a bit more like himself. It set a sense of familiarity in her bones, and almost relieved her.

"We don't tell anyone about this, yeah?" Kelly said to them all, but met her eyes almost immediately "About the storm, or what it did to 'os or anyfing."

 _No problemo_ , she thought. Kelly's lips tweaked slightly.

"We're about to bury our probation worker, we don't need to be drawin' any attention to ourselves." Nathan quaked.

"I don't want anyone to know." Alisha stated "I cannot be a freak."

"Is that seriously all you're worried about?" Emily demanded. Alisha snapped her head to her and glared at her. If Alisha's power had been something to do with Medusa, Emily would be a statue right now.

"What about you?" Kelly turned to Curtis.

"There's no going back now, man." Nathan shook his head at him "You're just as screwed as the rest of us. You're black AND famous, you're probably _more_ screwed!"

"I shouldn't even be 'ere." He growled out, jaw clenched.

"But you are. Your self-pitying act makes me want to throw up." Emily told him sternly, but kept it light. They didn't need to be dicks to each other, not when they were in such deep shit together. They needed to be allies.

"You were against this at first too, y'know." He said to her pointedly.

"I was." She nodded "But I'm not anymore." Curtis frowned, lips curling in anger and frustration before turning away from her and shoving his shovel into the dirt. Emily could understand that feeling, to be honest.

"Just then, when 'e was touchin' ya." Kelly started, eyebrows drawn together "How were ya doin' tha'?"

"I don't know." Alisha sighed in exasperation.

Kelly turned to Emily "Wot about you? 'Ow were ya levitatin'?"

"It only happened when Tony grabbed you." Simon mumbled, looking up at her and then looking away quickly.

"I don't know." She echoed Alisha's words "I was afraid, and then I opened my eyes and I was…levitating. I guess."

"It's a self-defensive power then." Simon said.

She shrugged.

They were silent, piling dirt on them until Nathan piped up "Didn't you say you wanted to piss on her tits? Her," He gestured to Alisha "Not four-eyes. It's probably best to keep that sorta thing between you and your internet service provider."

"Ouch." She muttered, glancing at Nathan and looking away when she realised he was grinning at the comment.

"Hold on, all of you have some kind of special power. Everyone can do something except me." Nathan whinged and pointed to Simon "He can do something, _HE_ can do something and I can't. That's ridiculous, _look_ at him! How does that make any sense?"

"We are. It makes sense." Emily said, throwing another shovel full of dirt into the hole.

"That really hurts, four eyes." Nathan whined "That really stings, y'know!"

"Maybe you can do something," Simon tried.

"Yeah, maybe it's being a major cunt." Emily said, unable to keep the insults pouring from her mouth to the pillock.

"Stop attacking me with words!"

"Would you rather I punched you?"

"Maybe you _can_ do something, you just haven't found out what it is yet." Simon tried again, slightly louder.

"Yeah, yeah right. What if I can't feel pain?" Kelly clipped him on the face, and he shrieked, clasping his face "OW!"

Emily snorted.

"Didja feel that?" Kelly yelled.

"Stop hittin' me!" He yelled back. Emily sighed, massaging her face with her hands, wincing when she put too much pressure down, then picked up her shovel again and continued with the dirty work. Soon, everyone copied and she morbidly wondered if this could be considered part of their two hundred hours.

Kelly sent her a hilariously disgusted expression.

* * *

The door of her locker closed gently, but Emily felt the opposite of gentle. She felt an inert anger inside her, like a sleeping beast, weighing her down so her shoulders felt heavy and her feet felt like lead. It was something she had accepted as normal now, that weight, so it was something she could ignore even if it bothered her constantly. She hoped one day it would fuck off for good instead of just in moments where she felt she could smile and laugh, only to come back again later on.

She pressed her finger to her cheek; it was a nice shade of green, mottled and grim looking. She winced "Fuck." She hissed, closing her eyes tightly, letting out a trembling breath when the anger inside her lifted its ugly head; the sudden longing to punch the mirror waved over her, she wanted to watch the shards fall and her reflection shatter and her knuckles bleed. But she wouldn't do that. Emily was reasonable, as Nathan said.

Massaging the concealer into her cheek made it throb painfully, and setting it with powder made her tense but it held her to the ground, it kept her steady. She had nearly started levitating last night when Lewis was at the flat, watching her cook over her shoulder. She'd managed to control it, but just enough to get to the bathroom and hit the fucking ceiling. Took her a bit of time to get down as well. A whole David Attenborough episode, if Lewis' tv series of choice was any way to measure time.

Emily let out a chuckle, gazing at herself in the mirror. She never thought that she'd ever having issues with something like that. She'd never even thought of that before. It was a fantasy. Superpowers only existed in things like Marvel or X-Men. But now, it was real life.

Her chuckle died when she finished covering up the bruise. Make-up was pretty fucking magical too, if she was being honest. She sighed and peered around the empty locker room and for a moment, wondered if Simon was standing there, watching, invisible, jaw clenching, wiping his hand across his fringe making it look greasy and wet.

She stood there, but nothing happened so she inhaled through the nose, exhaled through the mouth and left.

* * *

"Gary and my colleague, Tony, have both been reported missing." The new lady, Sally, or whatever said "There families are very worried about them. Have you seen anything unusual, anything at all?"

There was a tense silence, and Emily was pretty sure they'd get off with a 'if you remember anything, come and tell us immediately,' but Nathan stuck his hand up. She turned to him, eyes narrowed. The rest of them did the same, faces screaming ' _what the fuck are you doing? Now isn't the time to be yourself!'_

"You saw something?" The lady questioned; eyebrows raised.

"A few days ago," He started "I go into the toilets, Tony and Gary were in there. They're butt naked, Tony has Gary by his hair, like this," Proceeded to grab his hair "And he's just doing 'im, doggy style. And Tony's like 'Ah, who's your daddy? I'm your daddy, big daddy."

Emily eyed his ministrations with a muted, horrified curiosity, much like the others. She watched as he imitated spitting on his hand and massaging arsehole, probably. He was continuously thrusting his hips, and got a bit too into it for the actual situation. Having sex with Nathan was probably one hell of a rollercoaster, either one you came out of happy and sated or morbidly traumatised. This was…normal Nathan, so she guessed him acting like a prick was him just being his usual self, which wasn't necessarily suspicious at all.

Except that the lady looked almost to tears.

"Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yah, oh ya, I'm daddy cool!" He exclaimed, pretending to spank Gary and cum and then, "So, I'm guessing they've ran away to continue their illicit homosexual love affair. And I ask you, in this world of intolerance and prejudice, who are we, who are we, to condemn them?"

He looked at the lady, waiting for a reaction or response, but, all she does is look at him with a stern, stony face, and then turned and walked away.

They're not really sure what to say at first, she thought, since there was an uncomfortable silence. Maybe because they were mad at him for bringing attention to themselves, or because he had to taint their eyes with something as horrific as what he just did.

Their silence might speak more than words could, in that moment.

They stood on the edge of the roof of the building, and the new lady had just stared at them like they were criminals or some shit. Sarah or whatever was totally on their case, and they'd only been pretending to be innocent for less than a day. Emily wondered how they were going to manage this for the rest of their lives but decided not to think about it for the time being.

"Well, I think we got away with it." Nathan said jollily around his fag.

"Say it louder, why don't you." She deadpanned.

"Do you actually believe that or are you just really dumb?" Curtis scoffed, looking at him with his usual 'are you kidding me' expression.

"I _actually_ believe that." Nathan bit back "I mean, I was there. I should have one of these bullshit powers."

"Ya can 'ave mine. Ya wanta 'ear wot people are finkin about you?" Kelly shot back, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Not really. I want something good," Nathan inhaled "Something from the A-List."

"Maybe you can fly." Simon said.

"We've already got a fuckin' flyer, smart boy!" Nathan exclaimed, gesturing to Emily with a wave of his arm.

"She levitates." Simon muttered.

Emily nodded "Don't be jealous man, I'm wary of standing outside. I might fuckin' float away. Like a kid let go of their Disneyland helium balloon and then be spotted in India or somethin'."

"Wouldn't ya just go up?" Nathan asked.

"Then you'd just die of hypoxia." Simon stammered, earning strange looks from the group. He looked away, jaw tight.

"So I'm at great risk of just floating into space and dying from hypoxia. Great." Emily frowned "So, we've got a levitater. That's different from flying. You wouldn't accidentally die from hypoxia."

"True! That's why it's on the A-List, four eyes." Nathan tapped his nose "Might as well give it a shot" He then jogged to the chair abandoned on the roof. Kelly said a monotone 'Don't' but he jumped off it anyway, face scrunched up as if concentrating, and fell on his arse.

"Ow! No, that's not it. You can keep flyer." Nathan grimaced, massaging his back.

"So, what happens now?" wondered Curtis "Is this it? Are we gonna stay like this forever?"

"What if we're meant to be like…superheroes?" Simon pondered, looking almost hopeful. Hey, even a mental pyromaniac like him can long to be superman every once in a while.

"You lot, superheroes?" Nathan scoffed "No offence, but it what kind of fucked up world would that be allowed to happen?"

"I did not sign up for that." Alisha pursed her lips.

"Can I be Ironman?" Emily asked "He flies, it could work."

"You can't 'cos he's a billionare and you don't have enough cash to buy ibuprofen." Alisha scoffed, inspecting her nails in boredom.

Emily placed a hand on her chest, stumbling as if she'd been shot "Okay. Ouch."

Nathan laughed, flinging an arm around her shoulders as he puffed on a cigarette "That's like me saying can I be Storm even though I'm apparently NOT GOOD ENOUGH for a power!"

"Are my ears deceiving me? You know who Storm is. You're a nerd too, prick. And a hypocrite."

"I'm not, I'm just informed." Nathan stuck his nose in the air.

"We don't care about what you're talking about." Alisha said bluntly. Emily shrugged, and took Nathan's offered fag, placing it between her lips and having a long drag, letting the smoke fill her lungs.

A lot had happened. She'd told Kelly that she wasn't sorry for saying that shit just after The Incident because she'd meant it then. Emily had seen a corpse that one of them had killed and she had been afraid, afraid of the consequences as most criminals are but said that she would never dob Kelly in. She'd held out her fist, and Kelly had placed her fist against hers. She liked to think they were pretty much mates now.

"What if there's loads of people like us all over town?" Kelly suggested, eyebrows raising.

"No, that kind of this only happens in America." Nathan replied "This will fade away. I'm tellin' ya, by this time next week, it'll be back to the same old boring shit."

Amen to that, she guessed.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading, pls review, they condition my hair x**


	4. Nudists and Infestations

**A/N: I noticed a lot of spelling mistakes in the last chapter and it's _killing_ me. Anyway, my writing's rusty, since I haven't written for so long. I'm 101% sorry, I have no excuse. Thank you for the comments, I really appreciate them! **

**Ronnie.H: Emily's power isn't random! It relates how she's afraid of things such as violence so her self-defensive power – which floats her away from danger – is definitely linked to her personality! I hope the link between her power and her personality is shown better in future chapters. Thanks for commenting x**

 **holly: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! I'm glad you enjoy their banter! Thank you for commenting x**

 **Deadbirdsleeping: I'm so glad the chapter was alright! It felt slightly wrong that nobody stepped in to help Alisha, so I couldn't not have Emily help Alisha out. I like friendships to grow stronger and more comfortable over time, as they usually are! Thank you for your comment, I really appreciate it! x**

 **zuleika126: I'm so pleased she fits in with the show! Thank you so much! x**

* * *

"Hey Em, before you go, I wanted to say that I've got a surprise for you-" Lewis raised a brow in the doorway, faltering in his steps "What _are_ you wearing?" He laughed, sitting down at the table and digging into his eggs and bacon she had made for him that morning.

"A shirt." She replied, stirring her cereal idly "It was my brother's."

"You're gonna go outside in a guy's shirt?" He grunted, mouth full of food, which was fairly disgusting "A guy that's not _me_?"

"It's _Tyler's_." She sighed "You can't be jealous of my _brother_. That's weird."

Lewis didn't reply.

So, she said nothing, and shovelled the soggy cereal into her mouth, wanting to hurry up to the community centre, she wanted to feel the relief of being far away from here, to be able to _breathe_.

"It's ugly." Lewis said to her when she stood to put her bowl in the sink "You shouldn't wear it. Wear that t-shirt I bought you last year."

 _'You're_ ugly _.'_ A small voice in her head whispered

"I'm already wearing this." She told him, peering at her oversized shirt, open to reveal her black tank top. The shirt was nice, it was bold and colourful in every way she wished she could be but the most important thing was that she bloody liked it.

His large hand snagged her wrist before she could grab the sponge to wash her bowl up. His nails press into her skin and his lips ghost over the concealed bruise on her cheek. She doesn't know why she continues to hide it; there was no fucking point with it when she's around a fucking telepath every day. She would find out soon enough, or better yet; she already knew.

"Don't you ever listen to me?" He whispered to her, voice jagged in her ear, warm breath caressing her neck.

"I _do_." She croaked, eyes wide and heart beating fast. She could feel herself becoming lighter, she could feel her feet rising from the ground but she thought fast, she thought of the misfits. She thought of freaky Simon and how he wipes at his fringe and how Alisha blew her bubble-gum bubbles too big and how Curtis flexed in the mirror when he thought nobody was looking. She thought of Nathan, and how much of a major twat he was yet he always made her laugh – usually _at_ him. She thought of Kelly and how she threw an empty can of beer at her on the walk home last night to show affection.

And she wasn't as afraid anymore. Her feet stayed on the ground.

"I don't have to do what you tell me to do." She bit out, snatching her wrist from his hold and backing away "You're my boyfriend, but that…doesn't give you the right to do shit like this."

"Why are you being like this?" He murmured to her softly, pressing his hand into the back of her head, a comforting weight that made her want to drop the anger and hate in her voice and tell him- "You love me, right?"

Her face fell in defeat and her eyes dropped to her shoes. "I-you _know_ I do." She whispered.

After a few more moments, she had grabbed her bag, yanked on her jacket and fled, eyes full of shame and wrist red with pink crescent moons dented into her skin.

Beneath her jacket, she wore that t-shirt he bought her last year.

And though she wanted to be buried deep beneath the ground, the feeling of such immense _defeat_ almost dragged her from the pavement and into the grey, grey sky.

* * *

It was an average day of community service, she would say. It was grey, dull and Curtis had already tried to hit Nathan because he was whinging about being powerless when he was obviously the most interesting among the entire group.

She understood he felt left out, but his whinging voice was the most aggravating noise she had ever heard. "Cos' you're all special and I'm not?" He whined, waving his hands in the air, the bin bag in his hand nearly hitting Simon in the face.

"Oh, you're special alright." Emily commented quietly, making the group laugh at him as he sulked.

Nathan made a nasty face at her "The light your fuckin' life, four-eyes." He grumbled "Yeah, well I doubt it. You can think what you like but I have a superpower and I just need to find out what it is."

"Maybe you're just super retarded." Alisha suggested, rolling her eyes.

"Maybe I've got a whole Spiderman vibe goin' on." He continued, ignoring the unsavoury comments "Y'know, maybe I can climb stuff and do spider shit."

"Yeah, 'cos that makes perfect sense. Why would _you_ be able to climb stuff?" Curtis scoffed, resting the litter-grabber thing on his shoulders.

"I don't know. How is it that you can turn back time, apparently? And weird kid-" He waved the litter-grabber thing in Simon's face "-can turn invisible? It's not like this whole situation is backed up by a wank-load of logic."

Emily reached up and pinched his ear with the litter-grabber thing, making him squeal and bat her away, disgust on his face "People pick used condoms and shit up with that thing, four-eyes! Don't you care about my health?!"

"You're probably already crawling with disease, what's one more?" She queried innocently, fluttering her eyelashes and narrowly dodging his own grabber thingy waving at her. She jogged ahead and walked backwards, tongue between her teeth and middle fingers raised.

Nathan scoffed, and looked mockingly hurt before he leaped on to Simon's back, ignoring how the awkward boy spluttered and averted his eyes quickly with a mumbled 'get off' and said "She's so totally in to me." Curtis, from where he walked nearer the back, scoffed.

Simon, obviously, doesn't reply, or maybe his reply is his clenched jaw and eyes staring down at his shoes. Poor guy.

"Duh, my type is definitely lanky, arrogant twinks." She grinned.

Nathan cried "I am _not_ a _twink_!"

"Why'd ya keep comin' on ta Simon then?" Kelly yelled from the front of the group, and of all things impossible, Simon paled more than he already was, and stuttered in his shuffle to the overpass, only a bit ahead of them.

"I-I am _not_ coming onto this-this _weirdo_! If I was gonna come on to any male, it would definitely be George Clooney. That man has aged like a fine wine."

Emily nodded, slightly astonished at his choice in men "Good choice."

"But I am NOT queer." He said, hands on hips as he stomped ahead of the group. Emily shook her head at him and plonked her hand onto Simon's shoulder.

"Don't be homophobic, dickwad." She heard Alisha say with an air of judgement in her tone.

"What a twat, am I right?" She said, turning to the weirdo with a toothy grin, ignoring his 'deer-in-headlights' stare and then galumphing into the dimly lit area beneath the overpass.

It was just a regular day.

That seemed to be her anthem at the minute, since Kelly bludgeoned Tony Morecombe to death after his own murderous episode. It was just a completely regular day, she repeated in her head, as she dropped an empty Hula Hoops packet with something leaking shoved inside it into the bin bag.

Anyway, like Nathan had said, they weren't in America; this would all blow over and they would go back to being nobodies. They would finish their two-hundred hours and go back to their regular lives. Curtis would wait out his two-year ban from athletics, crying like a little bitch – from somewhere behind her, she heard Kelly snort – and Nathan would live on thinking he was the focus of the entire planet and so on.

And she would do as she had been doing for years. She would continue on with her life with Lewis, get a job in a one stop shop or pub or something, she would pay for a meal at a restaurant once every fortnight, she would lead him to the bedroom once or twice since he likes it when she initiates sex.

Life would go on, nothing weird from here on would happen, and it would be as if nothing happened. Her floating party-trick would die down and she would learn to stop it from happening, and life would go back to normal.

"What is that?" She heard Curtis exclaim, making her turn and peer at whatever put the confused disgust in the failed athletes voice. Her eyes widened when they fell on the nude form of a middle-aged man, leg sprawled upwards to hitch that butt in the air. The naked man was either dead, unconscious or asleep, she couldn't really tell from this far away. And she didn't want to be the one to have to check, not to say she didn't want to know, but if he got spooked and headbutted her or something, that would put a bit of a downer on her day.

"Is 'e breathin?" Kelly queried, nose wrinkled in disgust.

Alisha stepped forwards and gently prodded a single arse cheek with her litter picker. She snickered, like a school girl playing a trick on a boy she fancied. "Hey, nude guy." She called. He made a noise and shuffled where he lay "You're naked." She stated, matter-of-factly.

He rolled onto his back, legs raised and spread, revealing _too much._ They all groaned and turned away at the sight of his massive cock on show. There was a click of a camera going off, and she whipped her head to look at Simon, eyebrows raised and face screaming 'seriously?'

"You!" Nathan suddenly yelled, pointing at him.

The nude guy suddenly seemed to realise he wasn't at home, snuggled up with the Mrs, but instead beneath an overpass, in a puddle of…something, naked as the day he was born with a group of young adults who had just witnessed a part of him that they really shouldn't have.

He scrambled to his feet, and sprinted, only slipping over once before going out of their eye sight, leaving the group laughing, in tears, whilst Nathan watched, clinging to metal bars in shock.

"D'you wanna tell us who that was?" Curtis asked, mockingly.

"Relative?" Emily snorted, covering her mouth as she laughed harder.

"E's my mums…E' lives with my mum." He finally decided on the latter.

"Your stepdad has got a _massive_ cock." Alisha pointed out, starting up another round of laughter at the expression of pure disgust on his face.

"No! Jesus! And he's not my stepdad, alright?"

"Did you see that thing? That thing was monster big. Your mum will hurt." Even Emily grimaced at that one. God, she wouldn't want to hear about how her mum would hurt after a nice fucking pounding. Jesus.

"La la la – shut up." Nathan said,

"Why's he naked?" Kelly asked, eyebrow raised.

"He's obviously some kind of pervert." Stated Alisha.

"What? He just comes to the overpass to sleep starkers?" Emily furrowed her brows in confusion "Sounds like a waste of time and effort."

"Or, he's gay." Alisha offered.

"That follows." Curtis scoffed.

"Well, he was cruisin' for rough trade. They love that shit."

"Oh, a little light homophobia. Go for it."

"Or 'e could be a rapist. There's loads of em round 'ere." Kelly suggested. Emily cringed, she sure hoped not but honestly, Kelly was probably spot on, knowing how rough their area was.

"Maybe he's a werewolf." Simon piped up quietly.

"What the fuck?" Emily blurted, voice echoing, quickly backtracking "Shit, no judgement here man. We all get suggestions!"

Nathan pointed his rubbish picker at Simon and stated "Twat."

"Okay, a tinsy bit of a judgement." Emily sighed.

"It's what happens in films." Simon defended "You turn into a werewolf, you kill someone, then you wake up somewhere, naked, like a zoo." Emily peered at the disbelieving faces of her co-offenders, and tried not to feel bad for the sod.

"He's not a werewolf, okay. This guy is such a pussy, he needs my mum to open jars for him." Nathan exclaimed. Just the mere mention of his not step-dad seemed to put him on edge. Emily wondered where the hatred came from, but she doubted she would find out.

"That's sexist." She piped up, inspecting her fingernails – maybe she would paint them, black or dark navy, she'd always liked having dark nail polish in sixth form, it made her feel edgy.

"Can you see all the shits I give?" Nathan snapped at her, and she pursed her lips at him.

"I don't like this attitude of yours."

"Why d'you have a reply for everything?"

"I don't know, I'm just quick."

Nathan groaned loudly, tangling his fingers in his curly mane and tugging his head back – this poor soul was troubled, and had just seen his not step-dad's massive wang, no wonder the poor baby was so distraught. "What I was _tryin'_ to say was that if he was a werewolf he'd be able to open a jar of peanut butter for himself!"

He had a good point, she supposed.

"What 'appen's if the storm messed 'im up?" Shit, Kelly also had a good point. Why were her co-offenders so much smarter than her? God.

"That's bollocks," Nathan shook his head in disbelief "What are the chances?"

"Don't jinx it." Emily said.

Nathan slammed his head against the metal bars behind him, his groan was one extremely similar to a child throwing a fit. Emily chuckled to herself and turned to see Kelly smirking.

* * *

As odd as the nude rapist werewolf in the overpass was, Emily was still unsure which was odder; that, or the fact that their community centre was now infested with a coughing, hobbling and knitwear-obsessed bacteria. Or should she say, the elderly.

It reminded her of Natalie McCar's nan's 70th birthday, she'd been invited so Nat wasn't the only one younger than 50. There'd been banners, very solid cake and the constant fear that she would have to dance with them. All that needed to happen now was for somebody's great-grandad to have a heart-attack on top of the fruitcake.

They were all lined by the entrance of the room, and it gave Emily déjà vu to the first day where they were lined against the railings with Tony standing in front of them instead of Sally. She even sported the look of mild disgust as if she was looking at gum on the bottom of her shoe.

"Help out." She began, forcing a smile onto her face "Talk to them. Make sure everyone's having a good time." Emily glanced to her left and then to her right, bouncing in the spot with a mild sense of awkwardness since nobody actually moved. Should she just…stay put? Wait for them-

"M-Move!" She barked, eyebrows drawn together. Emily jolted and quickly walked away, glancing back to eye her once more. Jesus, she needed to calm the fuck down; massages always helped after a period of stress, a nice warm bath, winning the lottery, the small stuff.

There was a little dancefloor with a few couples swaying on it, laughing and cheering when a good song came on, or whatever they thought was a banger. Most of them were off to the side, chatting and mingling. All they needed was spiked blackcurrant juice and this would remind her of prom.

"I've had enough surprises for one day," She commented "First, we walk into an infestation, second, I don't even bloody fucking know-"

"Mind your language, young lady!" Nathan exclaimed, slinging his arm around her shoulders and placing his hand over her mouth. Her eyes widened with horror, and she began to fight against his hold but despite his lanky form, he wasn't weak.

"Oi!" Kelly yelled, slapping him on the arm "You can't be puttin' your scummy 'ands on her mouf!"

"Stop hittin' me!" He pouted, letting her go "She was profanityin' all over the place! Their minds need to be protected!"

"They've probably done shit we'll never even think of doing," Emily piped up, wiping her mouth on the sleeve of her t-shirt and grimacing "I-Why the fuck does your hand smell like that?"

"That's my _natural_ essence." He winked.

"Your _natural essence_ smells like shit." She sneered " _Literally_." Kelly's face scrunched up in disgust "You know you're meant to use toilet paper, not your _hand_ to wipe."

"Harhar, you always make me laugh my arse off, four eyes." Nathan replied, a mocking smirk on his lips.

"Looking forward to it, prick, maybe then you won't reek-"

"Can you shut op?" Kelly demanded, looking as if she might stomp her foot like an angry toddler any minute "I can 'ear ya y'know" She pointed to Emily with narrowed eyes and a steady finger "I''ll 'it you."

"I know. And no, you won't." She grinned toothily, it grew sheepish when Kelly rolled her eyes "Okay, maybe you will, but I'm a strong girl."

Kelly scoffed, lips pursed "Is 'e dead?" She cocked her head to the old guy in the wheelchair with his chin to his chest and his mouth gaping open "I fink e's dead."

"After that vile talk," Nathan elbowed her "I wouldn't be surprised; probably had a heart attack." Wow, this really was a replica of Natalie's gran's 60th wasn't it?

"Maybe, jostle him a bit?" Emily suggested, jabbing her elbow into Nathans ribcage "Go on, you do it."

"Just volunteer me why don't ya." Nathan said.

"You love the limelight, though." She ruffled his curly locks and cooed "Go on, you can do it!"

"Fine! Just stop doin' that! I'm not a fuckin' dog!" He exclaimed.

"You look like a bitch to me."

"Just once four eyes, just once can't you let me have the last word?" Nathan huffed "For God's sake…" He then leant forwards with his hands on his knees so his face was closer to the old man's face "SHE'S STEALING YOUR PENSION!" He yelled.

The man jerked awake, eyes wide as he gripped the handles on his wheelchair. Nathan grinned up at her and Kelly "No. He's fine."

Emily gave an unenthusiastic thumb up, eyes scanning over the crowd when she spotted him. His head bobbing amongst the crowd of pensioners, lips stretched into a grin as he sauntered towards her.

The word ' _surprise'_ echoed in her head.

"Surprise!" She heard him exclaim.

Without a word, she took him by the bicep and stalked off, eyebrows furrowed and lips sealed tightly. "Oi, four eyes, aren't ya goin' ta introduce us?" Nathan called to her, but she ignored him.

"Woah, love!" Lewis exclaimed, stopping when they were on the other side of the room and pressed his hands to the sides of her face. He gazed down at her "What's with you? Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Of course, I am." She said, pressing her hands to his biceps again "I was just- surprised."

"That's what a surprise is meant to do." He told her, leaning in and pressing his lips to her forehead "I'm a volunteer! So, we can be together till the parties over."

She smiled at him and stood on her toes to press a kiss to his mouth. He didn't respond, but held her around the waist tightly and asked "So, who's that guy?"

"Which one?"

"The one you were standing with."

"Oh, that's Nathan." She laughed "He's…a bit of a prick."

"Know him well?"

"Uh, not really?" She furrowed her brows and stepped back slightly "Lewis, please. He's just a co-offender. Nothing else, so calm down and don't be irrational."

"Irrational?" He scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest "My girlfriend is hanging around three dudes that I don't know. I think I'm being completely rational."

"Three guys who I'm doing community service with." She added "Lewis, I'm not hanging out with them voluntarily."

"I know that. I still don't like it." He frowned.

"You hang out with Daisy and Trish all the bloody time." She snapped, feeling irritation prickle inside her "And you don't see me getting all pissy and jealous!"

"Well, maybe you should!" He replied back "If you loved me, you'd care!"

"Maybe I trust you, you arsehole!" She hissed, suddenly remembering they were in the midst of a party for pensioners. Emily hoped they didn't hear any of their conversation.

"Em, I love but you really need to be more a part of our relationship." He said to her, hand caressing her cheek, a parody of lovingly. She felt her eyes sting, and she closed them tightly.

"How-What-How can you-" She stammered, opening her eyes and swallowing thickly "I'm-I'm sorry." The words felt heavy escaping her lips.

"It's okay, Em." He said, pressing his cheek to her hair "I love you so much."

"I love you too." She replied, muffled by his shirt.

Throughout the entire fucking party, she's sure she spoke to one person uninterrupted, whilst the remainder she had to deal with Lewis butting in every five seconds or so. He dragged her to the dancefloor and spun her round and dipped her low as if they were on Strictly Come Dancing. They got applauded by the people on the dance floor, for God's sake.

"This idiot has two left feet," He had said to one couple, patting her on the head like she was a petulant child "Don't you, love?"

"Oh, totally." She had agreed, swallowing hard and smiling rigidly "I'm the most uncoordinated person you'll ever meet."

They brought people food a lot, since Sally kept glaring at her for not doing anything. She got a few sausage rolls for Mr and Mrs Bexley, and a muffin for Mrs Dewsberry, but couldn't get Mr Lawson a brandy, since all they had was juice.

"Sorry, sir." She said "I'd spike it for you, but my flasks at the flat."

"You'd think offenders like you would bring your alcohol with you to boring events like this." He tutted, jokingly "I suppose juice is better than nothing. Would you mind, darl?"

"Not at all." She beamed, standing up to go to the buffet table. She was glad to have a breather. Lewis had been dragged off by a blonde volunteer for some reason or another, so she could have a nice chat with Mr Lawson – who was a charming guy indeed, vulgar and blunt with an array of tattoos going up his arms. You wouldn't expect him to have them, since he wore chequered shirts tucked into high trousers so they were having a row with his shoes.

She reached for a glass, only for another hand to bump into hers, knocking it from her grasp and onto the hardwood floor. It felt like it was in slow motion as it shattered, sharp pieces going in every direction.

"Oh," She gasped, bumping into the culprit. Lewis sturdy arm steadied her and looking at her with disappointment "Lewis-you-"

"God, I knew you were clumsy but seriously?" He sighed, shaking his head at her and taking the dustpan and brush from Sally, who had hurried over with it after witnessing the scene.

"It-It was an accident." She told him.

He rolled his eyes _hard_ and she could just feel herself getting lighter. She willed herself to stay on the ground, to stay put, this might be a party and she might have her trick but now w _asn't_ the time. "You can't make excuses for everything."

She thought: Accent, Shit-eating grin, sarcasm, fringe-wiping habit, attitude.

 _Accent, Shit-eating grin, sarcasm, fringe-wiping habit, attitude._

 _Stay. Put._ She demanded inside her head.

She opened her mouth " _You_ were the one who-"

"Just leave it, for fuck sake." He demanded, and she fell silent. It felt like he pulled the zipper to her mouth; she couldn't bring herself to say anything, to make a noise or yell at him for blaming her when he was the one that jostled her.

She turned on her heel and left for the locker room; jaw clenched, ignoring the looks and the glances she got from her co-offenders. They could make their assumptions. She needed a fag.

* * *

 _Fuck him._

She lit the fag in her mouth, and took a deep, painful inhale until she could practically feel all the tar coating her lungs. She kept it there for a bit, then exhaled. Fatigue was slowly taking her body captive.

 _Fuck him._

The view from the roof of the community centre sucked. All there was, was just grey buildings, grey sea water and the grey sky. It sucked arse. But, it was bloody better than in there. She sat on a lawn chair, by the edge, tucked in to herself and for a moment, wished she had Simon's power.

The door to the roof slid open, she heard it close quietly and quiet footsteps pad over to her.

"You awright?" Any sod could recognise that accent, she thought, letting her head fall between her shoulders, fag between her lips.

Kelly stood beside her "Can I bum one?" She asked, and Emily nodded, handing her the pack. She just sat on the lawn chair beside her, saying nothing and smoking for a bit. The only sound was the sea, their inhales and the gentle howling of the wind.

Part of her wanted to make idle conversation, like maybe how she could join the circus with her floating trick and make a tonne of money, or how Kelly should learn poker, but it didn't really feel like the right moment for that kind of chat. She didn't feel up for it, anyway.

"E's a cont." Kelly stated suddenly.

Emily opened her eyes slowly " _What_?" She croaked.

"Y'know I can read fockin' minds, idiot." She replied, voice angrier than usual "Everyfin' e's finkin' is 'orrible. 'E's fumin' for no good fockin' reason, and Em, you don't need a fockin' mind reader to know 'e's a major dick to ya."

Emily stayed silent.

"You should break up wiv 'im." Kelly told her.

"This isn't any of your business, Kelly." Emily told her, voice blunt and eyes hard as she looked at her "Back off."

"It is my fockin' business, you're my friend!" Kelly snapped.

"And he's my boyfriend!" Emily shot back, then added – unconvincing and half-heartedly "He _loves_ me."

"E's got a funny way of showin' it." Kelly sat back in the seat, arms crossed around her stomach.

"He-I-Yeah. He's an arsehole." Emily threw the fag down.

"'E 'urt you." Kelly emphasised "Your wrist, your cheek, don't fink I don't fockin' know about 'em."

"…You didn't say anything."

"Course I didn't. It were none of ma business then."

Emily felt a tug in her chest, and she lowered her forehead to her knees, curling up and inhaling small, sharp breathes "I-" She paused for a minute, just to breathe in the cool air "I-I wish I could stab him with an Argos pen."

"Breafe normally, yeah?" Kelly said, leaning forwards and placing a hand on her shoulder "You're freakin' me out."

God, she was fucked. She embarrassed him today, she stammered and stumbled over her words and dropped a glass and made him clean it up. Emily didn't smile when they applauded them on the dancefloor, she hid her face with her hair, that wasn't how you acted in public-

"Emily-"

 _Fuck him._

"Kelly," She said, voice low "Go home-Or, go back down there. I-Don't butt in on this, it's nothing to do with you-"

Kelly scoffed "You're bein' stupid-"

"I know what I'm doing." Emily replied, lighting another fag and leaning back in the lawn chair "It'll be fine."

"Fine!" Kelly yelled, with the usual fire in her eyes, heat and anger emanated from her body. She stood from the lawn chair and threw the half-smoked fag to the ground "If you're gonna be a retard, then I won't be there to help ya!"

"I never asked for your help." Emily sneered.

"No, ya didn't." Kelly glared at her, a look she never wanted directed at her "Don't go sayin' i did nofin'."

And then she was gone, slamming the door shut loudly behind her, leaving Emily alone. Before Kelly had turned up, she felt free and it felt easier to breathe, but now, she felt her lungs heave and her head thrum with pain. It felt like she'd lost an ally, or a friend. She'd lost enough of those in her lifetime to think that she'd be immune to the agony of it, but fuck, it seemed she'd forgotten how much it hurt.

"Kelly." She called, but nobody came.

Kelly was right. She was such a fucking idiot.

* * *

 **A'N: Thank you! Reviews make my day x**


	5. Bittersweet Chocolate

**A/N: Wehey, I'm editing every chapter because why not? I almost changed Emily's power completely but decided against it because I feel that Emily's levitation in a big deal for her character. I don't know man. Enjoy the story and pls review!**

* * *

She knew for a fact that Lewis would throw a fit when he woke up to an empty, cold bed. Emily had left during the night, early enough for the street lamps outside to still be spreading yellow light on the sidewalks. The birds hadn't even begun to tweet their morning tune.

But, really, she wanted to be anywhere but there. So, she found herself outside the community centre, an ancient, worn out copy of Birdsong grasped in one of her chilly hands and a square of dark chocolate in her other. She placed it in her mouth and felt it melt on her tongue, and found herself vaguely remembering having to read this book when she was seventeen. Her teacher was too bashful to read the sex scenes and whenever they were mention, he flushed and stammered.

Emily's head was swarming with too many thoughts, enough so that a pulsing began to ache between her temples. She feared the others would mock her relationship with Lewis, her only weak spot, that they'd comment on the yellow bruise blossoming on her cheek, she didn't know if she could handle people noticing how toxic it was because…

She didn't know the end of that sentence.

But, Kelly would no longer be someone to alleviate the tediousness of their situation. They wouldn't banter or laugh or meet up for a beer afterwards because she'd been a complete cow to her for just trying to help. How could she fix this? Why was she ignoring the obvious solution of just apologising?

Her knuckles turned white as she gripped her book tighter, shoving more squares of chocolate into her mouth. She continued to read. _'He was trying to help a trapped bird out of a window. Its wings battered frantically on the glass, suddenly the whole room was filled with starlings, moving with one flock instinct. They beat their wings against the window panes, flapped them in his hair, then brought their beaks towards his face.'_

Emily faltered "What the hell?" She muttered, flicking a page back and realising that she'd been reading the same page over and over. Page 47. How long had she been reading the same paragraph?

Slowly, it became lighter and the street lights switched off with a click and the birds began to chirp their morning tune. She was still hunched by the half-scrubbed out words _'I AM GOING TO KILL YOU'_ , snuggled warm in her Crombie and boots. She lit a fag when she reached page 116.

She felt calm, it had been a while since she felt so calm, but the serenity was completely ruined – practically stomped on by stiletto heels – when she heard a cough to the side of her. Emily jumped, letting out an embarrassing yelp, deflating at the sight of Sally.

The woman stood with her arms crossed, the usual expression of disdain on her face. She seemed to always have this expression of incredulousness twisted onto her face. It was an unattractive look, made her wrinkles stand out and her skin crease in on itself, brows furrowed and eyes clouded with scepticism.

There was an uncomfortable silence between them which Emily felt responsible to break but she wasn't sure what to say.

In the end, Sally broke the silence.

"What book are you reading?" Sally asked. It wasn't what Emily was expecting to be honest, she was expecting 'why aren't you getting changed?' or 'stop smoking on the property.' Her surprise was practically written on her forehead with thick marker pen.

"Birdsong." Emily replied, climbing to feet and sucking on the cigarette between fingers "S'it time to get changed?" She asked, a slight mocking tone to her voice.

"Not quite. We still have a bit till the others will turn up, no doubt." Sally told her, then beckoned her forwards "Come on in, you're probably cold, this early in the morning."

"Not really." Emily said.

"Come on. I'd like to have a chat before the others turn up, anyway." Emily gave in, and silently followed the woman to her office, dropping the half-smoked fag to the floor just as they walked inside and slumped into the chair opposite the desk when they arrived.

Once again, an uncomfortable silence enveloped them. It was like neither wanted to start whatever conversation was to be had, and once again, Emily broke the silence.

"Did you want something?" She tried.

"No, not really." Sally replied, sitting back in her chair "I just saw you outside, thought it'd be polite to invite you inside instead of waiting outside till the proper time."

"Sounds like you're trying to convince yourself." Emily smirked back crookedly, crossing her arms over her chest. "What do you _really_ want?"

Sally's jaw tightened "I wanted to ask you a few questions."

"How personal?" Emily queried.

"As personal as you'll allow me." Sally retorted "As your probation worker, I believe it's in your best interest to confide in me. Don't you think?"

Emily raised a brow. "No."

The woman took that in stride "How'd that happen?" She gestured to Emily's yellowing cheek with her pen "Looks sore."

"It is." Emily told her, massaging the slowly fading bruise with her knuckles before falling silent once more.

"You didn't answer my question." Sally said.

"Didn't I?" Emily shrugged idly, picking at a loose cuticle "Silly me."

"Okay, I get it." Sally cut her off with a raised hand and Emily sat back in her seat with a smug smirk on her face, ignoring the ache in her cheek "Have you put any cream on it? Surely your boyfriend has advised you to."

Her smug smile instantly faded. She felt her chest ache, and _'waiting for impact'_ resonated through her head.

"Bruises fade." Is all Emily could come up with. "Over time."

"Other things don't." Sally leant forwards again, eyes hard with an emotion Emily couldn't pinpoint "How did it happen? You can be honest with me Emily. I'm only here to help you."

Sally was officially Emily's least favourite person. This cow acted so fucking oblivious, but she was so obvious. This woman saw through her like she was tracing paper, but she wanted Emily to say it. She wanted to question the woman, ask her what she was getting at, what she was suggesting but that'd make it so much worse, so much worse-

Emily said "I bruise like a peach. Coulda been anything."

Sally was quiet for long enough to make her feel uncomfortable, then said softly "Okay, you can go. It's nearly time for everyone to turn up anyway." And off Emily went.

She didn't feel like she would float to the ceiling, she just felt numb. A part of her wanted to feel the type of fury or terror that would send her slamming to the ceiling, but it had been a while since she felt like this. Maybe she would savour this feeling whilst she could.

Emily wanted to read her book, so that was what she would do. She went to the main hall and plonked herself down on a chair she pulled out, yanking her book from her tote bag.

But the same sentence kept staring back at her. ' _He lay and stared at the night beyond the window. He felt himself grow cold.'_

Her focus was completely off today. She read the sentence again, then tore the chocolate bar from her bag, shoving a few squares into her mouth. They melted and she peered at the door that swung back and forth, yet nobody came through.

"Simon?" She croaked.

Nobody answered.

"Your chance to prove yourself." She said, loud and clear, like luring a scared child from behind a corner or their parent's legs. A soft smirk spread on her lips when Simon blinked into existence. As if he had always been there.

The sight of the pale little weirdo made her falter. For a minute, she'd considered the idea that she'd lost her mind, that she couldn't levitate, that he couldn't turn invisible, that Kelly could hear other people's thoughts and all that crap.

"That's a good party trick." She found herself commenting.

Simon wiped at his fringe. "You're early." He mumbled, voice uneven.

"Good one, Sherlock." She smirked, and offered him a piece of chocolate, which he hesitantly broke off the bar. He shuffled as he placed it in his mouth, eyes darting around the room. She wondered if that was creepier than just staring at somebody.

Suddenly, his eyes were trained on her face, hard and uncomfortable. It made her sweat – she decided it was creepier when someone stared straight at you. "I saw you." He blurted out. "Last time, you – you were covering it up." Emily exhaled deeply, and placed another square between her lips.

"I thought you might've." She admitted.

"You – you did?" He stammered, eyes wide like a sodding deer in headlights. She snickered at him and redness crawled up his throat, making him swallow uncomfortably.

"Yeah. Yeah I did." She told him, standing from the seat and pulling her tote bag onto her shoulder "I thought you were mental but, if you are then so am I, right? Though, d'you really have to tense so much to turn invisible?" She snickered, remembering the time he looked like he was shitting himself and Nathan pretended he'd actually done it.

Simon blinked a few times too many and muttered "No. I can't really control it-it just happens."

"Same." She said.

"We-We found something yesterday." He suddenly burst out, then quieted his voice into a hoarse whisper "Something in Curtis' locker. Someone knows what we did."

Her heart skipped a beat in her chest "What? Did it say that?"

"I-It said ' _I know what you did'_." He told her.

"So, it could be anything." She calmed down slightly, but in all honesty, what else would it mean? The worst thing the group had done was hide two corpses, one of whom they had murdered. But, she thought, if they were really going to do something, they would've called the police instead of just left a note in a locker.

"That's what Nathan said." Simon said.

"And I never thought I'd say this, but let's listen to the twat for once. They left a letter, not a voicemail they sent to the police." She nudged him with her elbow, and sauntered towards the door, Simon scuffling quickly after her.

* * *

True to what she'd said, Emily didn't dwell on the letter even after Simon took it from Curtis' locker and showed it to her. It was shitty craftsmanship so she screwed it into a ball and threw it back into his locker.

Nathan, on the other hand, was going through the entire group showing the photo he took of his not step-dad's private areas. "It's him." Nathan hissed, shoving his phone close to Kelly's unamused face, making her swat at him angrily "It's the guy who lives with my mum. He was out there last night. This is _evidence_."

Kelly looked at him with a raised brow, the expression made Emily snicker as she hauled her stack of chairs to the emptier part of the square. "What am I lookin' at?" She demanded, eyeing Emily out of the corner of her eye. Emily quickly got back to putting the chairs down.

She heard Nathan sigh in exasperation and say "Cock, anus, a bit of ball sack." just that bit too loudly.

Kelly's voice was riddled with something akin to disgust when she hollered out "Ew, what's that?"

"That's ball sack! It's from a low angle, Jesus!" Nathan exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air.

Kelly turned to him with sudden curiosity and asked "Where were you last night?"

That set him off, leaving Kelly in the dust as he sprinted over to Simon, shoving the phone in his pale stoic face; the guy looked a bit shocked, like a spooked animal but overall extremely happy to be a part of whatever was going on. "Here, look. Cock, anus, ball sack, yeah?"

"What's that?" Simon pointed, a giant terrifying smile spreading on his face. It almost made Emily pity the guy, that looking at cock on a twat like Nathan's phone probably made his day.

"That's cock!" Nathan told him. "C'mon! Four-eyes, take a look, it looks exactly as what it is." He sidled over to where she was perched on a chair and held the phone close enough to clink against her glasses. She swatted at his hand, but looked down at the screen, lips pursing at the photo. Definitely flesh, but questionable body parts.

"I mean, it is from a low angle." She meekly agreed "Why the hell did you take a photo of his junk anyway? Isn't that a bit…grim? Also, that's definitely an invasion of privacy."

"He'll take any chance at a bit of voyeurism, huh?" Alisha snickered as she relaxed on a stack of chairs.

Nathan groaned, loud and guttural "Look, this guy is living with my mum! We've got to do something!" He gained a multitude of blank stares from the group, and smacked his forehead with his palm. "Come on, you lot! Get your heads in the game!"

"Do what though?" Kelly said gruffly.

The twat perked up suddenly and pointed to her with determination swimming in his eyes "Can you get me a gun?"

"I ain't gettin' you a gun." Kelly scoffed.

"You're already doing community service, idiot." Emily announced "Don't one up that to actual prison."

He completely ignored what she said, which wasn't surprising. "Com'on, you know someone, right? Just a little one. Nothin' too lairy." Nathan pouted like the petulant toddler he was. Imagine that, a toddler wielding a gun, wrecking chaos.

Kelly scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest "There's no way I'm getting' a _dickhead_ like _you_ a gun."

"You can get a gun off the internet." Simon interjected.

"What if we go round there tonight – we'll talk to him, we'll be mature and polite, yeah? And then we'll just tell him to fuck off." Nathan suggested. Emily snorted, and winked when Simon directed his camera phone onto her. "What? It's a good plan!"

"Is it though?" She asked.

"What if 'e says no?" Kelly brought up.

Nathan shrugged, shoulders touching his ears "I dunno, we'll improvise. So, who's with me?" The silence he was met with was painful. "It's like that, is it? So much for being united by a horrific, life-changing shared experience. Hm? Last week? Y'know? The situation… _We killed our probation worker_?!"

"Shut up!" Emily hissed, whipping her head to the door and sighing when she saw it was completely still and nobody was standing there, listening in. God, he was a fucking disaster.

"Prick." Curtis sneered.

"God, you're such a dickhead." Kelly practically snarled.

"That counts for nothing?" Nathan sounded like a lost puppy.

Simon turned to Nathan, jaw locked "I'll come with you." His neck suddenly flushed a blotted red as he tugged on his sleeves "You know, if you want someone to go with you. I'll come."

"I'm not bein' funny, but me and you, buddying up, kicking ass! I'm just not feelin' it, but hey. Lovely thought. Cheers."

"That broke my heart." Emily announced, looking at Simon's face. It was slack with faded hope – at friendship most likely. Really, it looked hard to be friends with Nathan, he was probably not an easy guy to love, being a prick and all. She patted Simon on the shoulder "Don't take it personally." She said.

"I'd take it personally." Nathan called from the other side of the room.

Emily deflated "You're all so fucking difficult." She repented, dramatically falling into a chair. Simon blinked out existence, and the door cracked open for him to escape the room. She considered following him, but decided against it. Maybe he needed time to cry it out.

Nathan plonked down into the chair beside her, legs spread wide. He tried to inch his arm around her shoulders but Kelly swatted his arm away as she walked past them. "All the women here are violent!" he whined "C'mon four-eyes, you'll come with me, right?"

"This is family business, I'm not butting in on that shit." She told him, placing a piece of chocolate into her mouth.

"At least gimme some, as compensation." He snagged a jagged corner of chocolate without waiting for her response, and shoved it all in. He struggled to chew it, and grinned with brown-stained teeth "Why're you eatin' chocolate anyway?"

"Tastes good." She replied.

"Y'know what else tastes good-"

"I'm gonna say it doesn't."

"You don't even know what I was gonna say!"

She levelled him with a knowing stare. "What were you gonna say?"

"My semen-"

"I knew it!" She exclaimed, guffawing. "You must've been drinking your pineapple juice, then?"

"Gallons," He grinned "just so the ladies come back for more." He wiggled his brows at her "though, that could just be for my sweet lovin'."

"Pfft, nobody would want to waste their two minutes for a disappointing shag." She smirked at the abashed expression on his face.

"I last way more than two minutes!" He exclaimed, pointing an angry finger down at her.

"Honestly, I think I was being generous." She replied, raising her brows at him.

"Two hours more like, four eyes, I could go for round after round, I'm like a superhuman! Hey, maybe that's my power! Super stamina!"

"Sounds exhausting."

"That's the affect I have on people."

"No doubt."

They stared at each other for a minute; Nathan, just offended enough to look ridiculous and Emily with a deadpan gaze. Emily's expression cracked, and her lips twitched into a smile until she burst out laughing, voice mingling with Nathans as he snorted along with her.

"You two are so fucking weird." Alisha said judgementally.

When Emily peaked into the changing rooms, they were empty but she knew they weren't _really._ She opened her designated locker anyway, greeting Alisha and Kelly as they walked in with a "Where are the other two?"

Kelly pointedly turned away which Emily could admit, stung. Alisha shrugged "I think Curtis is outside by the others. No idea." Same old, same old then. Emily slid out of the jumpsuit, leaving her in her underwear and subtly inspected herself in the mirror. She was never one to be arrogant, but she didn't think it was a _sin_ to think she looked alright.

"-you engaged?"

"I was. Not anymore."

Kelly had told her about her ex-fiancé, a complete cunt apparently who only wanted to shag her instead of love her. She'd only spilled when they were in Kelly's favourite pub over a few drinks, had she been sober, Emily was pretty sure she wouldn't have told her.

"What about you and that boyfriend?" Alisha's voice pulled her from her thoughts, and also made her remember that she was still only in her underwear. She yanked her jeans from her locker and hurriedly put them on.

"Huh?" She voiced.

"That guy that turned up at the party. With all the old people." Alisha looked at her like she was a true retard, almost condescendingly. "You were dancing. He as pretty fit, how'd you snag him?"

Her gut twisted "Ah, I dunno. What about us, anyway?"

"How long've you been together?" Alisha queried, digging into business that wasn't hers to know.

"Nearly three years, I think." Emily replied, doing her belt up.

"Committed, then." Kelly suddenly stated, not turning around "You two's must be in propa love. Wha's that like?"

Her voice felt choked when she said "I'm not sure."

In that moment, Emily hated Kelly for ruining her sense of familiarity. She finally felt like she could get on with this like she usually had, but Kelly had to go and ruin it all. She tugged on her coat, slid into her boots then hitched her tote bag onto her shoulder "See ya." She told them, and stalked out of the changing rooms. Unlike the previous numbness she had felt, she didn't feel that now.

* * *

It was colder outside than before. She hugged her coat around her tighter, perched on the sofa on the roof, staring out across the grey city they lived in and felt a major sense of déjà vu sweep over her. Emily switched the fag from her fingers to between her lips and inhaled.

"Ain't you goin' 'ome?" Came a familiar voice.

"I am, just not right now." She replied, voice muffled. Smoke exhaled from her nostrils a second later. "What are you doin' here?"

"Ya need to pull ya 'ead out o' ya arse." Kelly sat down heavily beside her, tugging a fag from her own packet and nabbing the lighter Emily had half under her thigh. Emily hummed thoughtfully.

"Not sure how to." Emily grinned.

Kelly's faraway expression didn't fade, instead she just looked anywhere but Emily. "It ain't none of my business, but, you're my mate. I don't wan' you to fuckin' die. And before you say anyfing, I swear to God, I'm…sorry for puttin' you on the spot back there."

Emily was quiet for a long time after that.

"Was…he really thinking bad things?" She asked, voice small and meek. There were a lot of things Emily could have been thinking at that moment, but her head felt remarkably empty.

"Yeah. 'E was." Kelly's voice was too soft as she spoke. "I don't even wanna repeat 'em, Em, but they were rank. And focked op."

"And you think I'd be better of without him?" She asked. Almost like she was clarifying.

Kelly growled "You fuckin' know I do. Nobody happy is afraid to go home, you fucking prick."

Her lips tweaked at the corners "You're right."

"I know I'm right."

"Modest, too."

Kelly snorted "Ya don't hafta listen to me, but don't be a prick."

"Right back at you." Emily winked, and stood from the seat with a grin on her face "Let's not fight, Kel, in this day and age, what's the point?"

"Fine." Kelly rolled her eyes, but her lips tweaked into a smirk. She was glad somebody was amused by her antics "Are you goin' 'ome, then?"

"Probably. I'll walk you to yours first, though. Bein' a good friend and shite." They dropped their fags and stepped on them, walking to the doorway and down the steps.

"I guess I'll afta serve ya fockin' tea n' biscuits, like a propa host." Kelly gave her a sideways glance, grinning. Just the sight of it made relief fill Emily, knowing she hadn't fucked up another friendship because of Lewis. Emily couldn't help but grin back, a wide, proper 'U' smile as she followed Kelly out of the community centre, listening to her bash on about some bitch in her college who got a shampoo bottle lodged in her fanny and her mum had to help her.

Laughing like that, so carefree and light, made Emily feel hopeful that she'd be okay, in the end.

* * *

 **A/N: Yay, Emily has a revelation and she's mates with Kelly again! I love their friendship, not even joking. Hope you enjoyed, and please review, they make me go 'ooh, let's have a look' x**


	6. Red Flags & Punching Bags

**A/N: Alright, shortish chapter, edited and not my favourite but still. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

There was a part of her that wondered if she had gone with Nathan, maybe his mum wouldn't have slapped him so silly that he was pretending he wasn't crying on a sidewalk in the middle of the day. Another part of her told her that nothing would have changed, probably.

After walking Kelly home and having a cuppa with maybe a few too many rich tea biscuits, she wandered back in the direction of the flat but took a shortcut to have a pint in the Headless Horseman. She found a stray on the way, stumbled upon something that looked eleven times more pitiful than herself.

"I'm gonna say it went badly." She said, when she approached. Close enough to see the vibrant red of his cheek and the watery glaze over his eyes. _Mummy's boy that was rejected by mummy,_ she thought, _that must've been tough._

Nathan's head bolted up, curly hair bobbing with every movement. He stumbled to his feet with his jaw locked and eyes hard, looking at her like she was some sort of predator. "What're you doin' here, four-eyes?" He scrubbed furiously at his eyes until they looked red and sore and worse than they did before.

"Was in the neighbourhood." She replied, casually, though carefully avoided looking him in the eyes. She was almost afraid of what she'd find there; Emily had always been a coward when it came to things she feared. She always tended to avoid them until they disappeared or just festered.

Nathan scoffed, shoving his hands deep into his coat pockets as he sneered. She could practically smell the denial of what happened surrounding him. It made bells ring inside her head. "Great. Real nice. Sure, you were, just _happened_ to stumble upon lil' old me? Now you can go run to the others-"

"Want a pint?" She cut him off, sick of his accusatory speech. She was a lot of things, most of them pretty negative but disloyal wasn't one of them. Sure, she wasn't best mates with Nathan, she thought he was an arsehole but then again, she found him funny and oddly likeable.

He stared for a minute, then opened his mouth to reply "Wha-"

She cut him off again, and smirked when his eyebrow twitched in annoyance "It's a yes or no question, want a pint?"

"I'm not a charity case!" He yelled.

"You look pretty pathetic to me." She replied " _Want a pint?"_

"You're fuckin' charmin' aren't ya? Fine, okay." He scrubbed a hand through his hair and followed her to the pub just a few blocks away, lanky limbs swinging as he walked. She found it hard to even look at him, with how vulnerable he looked. Like a kicked puppy.

She bought him a pint of Guinness, and sipped her San Miguel at the table they were seated at in the corner of the dimly lit pub. He finished his in record time, and took it upon himself to order himself another.

"So?" He barked, after a while of what she thought to be companionable silence. Apparently, she was wrong. Considering Nathan was looking at her like she was The She-Devil from Hell, she was absolutely one hundred percent wrong.

"So?" She echoed.

"This is the moment you grill me about what happened, how my own mum fuckin'…and I just-" He stopped abruptly, and gritted his teeth in frustration. "So, if you're gonna, then just get the fuck on with it. I don't have all day."

"As if you've got anywhere to be." She remarked, looking down at his wince. They were both arseholes in their own right, for sure. "Look, I invited you for a pint 'cos you looked like a pup that just got kicked by its owner, and really, that's pretty much what happened. So, I…I wasn't gonna ask." She took a large mouthful of her lager and swiped at her mouth with the back of a hand "Maybe it would've been kinder had I asked."

"Wha-the fuck, four eyes, I-" Nathan's brows furrowed deeper than before, knuckles almost white around his glass "I'm just so fuckin' confused. This feels a little one-sided, eh? Know I've always owned the spotlight but how 'bout we dig into your familial issues a bit."

Her heart sped up in her chest, pumping against her ribcage painfully until she ached all over. Nathan was being defensive; he was upset and she hadn't been any help. She tried to convince herself that this would fly over, it would be fine, but would it?

"Give it your best shot." She said.

He groaned loudly, and slumped his head back onto the seat "The fuck am I supposed to know? The only shit I know about you is that you're a nerd and your boyfriends a cunt."

Emily's head rung. It felt too heavy for her neck to keep up as she stared at Nathan. Kelly had access to her mind, to her freakiest thoughts and the truths she never told anybody, and that was why she knew about Lewis. But, Nathan? He was, for all they knew, powerless.

How could he know?

"No shit, Sherlock." She replied hoarsely "But, this isn't about me."

"It ain't about me either." He snapped back, face scrunched in an expression of anger, unlike his usual mocking expressions, this one stung. "Unless we make it about each other, but I don't feel like havin' a heart to heart."

"I didn't want to have a heart to heart with you, for fuck sake." She barked, something sharp and bitter shooting through her.

"Then what _did_ you want?" He sneered "To comfort me? Well, so sorry four-eyes, but I don't feel very comforted."

"So, what if I was? I saw my friend on the sidewalk with a red cheek and looked like he might cry, I wasn't about to walk away!" She exclaimed, and stood from her seat with pursed lips.

"Maybe you should've." Nathan said.

Emily faltered, knuckles white around her glass. She found herself wishing that she had gone with Nathan, maybe then he wouldn't be so defensive and furious at her for…

"Maybe I should've." She nodded, voice choked as she stood from the table and walked – head high – to the door.

"Oi, where're you goin'?" Nathan yelled, following on her heels. She walked faster, into the cool air outside and down the pathway that she knew led to Lewis' flat. "Emily!"

"What?" She exclaimed in exasperation "What, Nathan? I can't make you feel better, so what do you want from me?"

His face crumpled into what looked like a struggle for words, or a way to say what he wanted to say before he blurted out "What 'appened to your face?"

"What happened with your mum?" She retorted, voice wobbly. Silence fell between them once her question had settled, and standing outside the pub, hands in pockets and eyebrows furrowed a bit too deeply, Emily wondered if perhaps they'd crossed a line.

A line delving in too deep a topic for two people who only know each other through community service.

"I'm gonna go. You should too." She said.

"I'm going ta Ruth's." He frowned, and slowly parted ways. It was good to keep a healthy distance from that line, she thought.

* * *

Lewis was sitting in the armchair when she got back. Beer in hand, fag in the other watching some crappy TV show. There was a round of obnoxious laughter from the telly when the door creaked open and she slipped inside, keys jangling in her hand.

"How was giving back to the community?" He asked, tone flat.

Emily swallowed thickly, voice rough "Glorifying."

He hummed, then took a mouthful of beer "Woke up to a cold bed this morning. Not a very nice wake up call, is it?"

"No." She answered, standing stiffly by the door "No, it isn't."

"It was freezing, had to make my own breakfast before work as well." He sighed, standing up from the armchair and placing his beer on the counter. She watched him, following him with her eyes. She didn't respond. "So?" He demanded, back facing her.

 _'What do you want me to say?'_ resonated in her mind. Kelly's voice too, her telling Emily how she'd be better off without Lewis, how he thought horrible things about her, how he embarrassed her in front of everyone.

She opened her mouth-

"How could you do that to me?" He asked, voice low, back hunched and her mouth parched, her throat constricted like hands were wrapped tightly around her neck.

"I-I-" She stammered "I wanted to get there early."

"Why?"

"To…To speak to my probation worker." She said pathetically.

He slowly turned, and approached her with careful, calculated steps. She felt like prey being faced with a predator, and tensed her shoulders, waiting for impact-

A large, rough hand caressed the side of her face, the bruised cheek that still ached. A callused thumb gently pressed over it, not hard enough to hurt, but almost a sweet gesture. She gritted her teeth together.

"What about?" He whispered.

"A-About the hours." She replied hoarsely. The telly in the background sounded distant, wobbly. Her feet felt heavy but by the frantic beating of her scared heart, she knew that if she didn't do something, she'd be plastered to the ceiling like wet tissue that kids threw on the toilet ceilings at school.

"That so? You left home at 4AM and waited three hours just to talk about the hours?" He asked, cupping her head in his hand. She felt a distinct sense of horror knowing that he could snap her neck with his bare hands, or slam her head into the table without a flinch.

"Yeah." It sounded weak.

"Em," He murmured, softly taking her hand and intertwining their fingers. Such a gentle but cruel gesture made her want to curl in on herself "I don't believe you."

 _'YOU NEVER DO_.' Screamed in her skull.

She inhaled sharply, and let out a weak, pathetic whimper when she felt the glowing butt of the fag press to her bare wrist. He pressed harder, and she could practically feel each layer of skin burning away; tears stung in her eyes from the sharp, distinct pain but she blinked them away and pressed her face to his sturdy shoulder.

"There, there." He twisted his fingers in her hair, tangling in her long, dark locks until it felt like they would never be untangled "I know what can take this off of both our minds."

Emily liked sex. She was quite fond of it; rough and spontaneous was invigorating and made her stomach pool with an insatiable heat. Gentle, loving sex made her feel wobbly and warm, something she was both afraid of and craving. But, despite sex with Lewis being okay, she found herself _despising_ it for the mere fact that it was Lewis she was doing it with. She liked having her hair pulled, but she wanted to snarl at him when he did it, she liked hickeys and bruised fingerprints but she knew they were from Lewis' mouth and Lewis' hands to she _fucking hated_ them.

She had a friend back in college who was fuck-buddies on the side; they didn't do it much because they were pretty average, awkward teenagers who didn't really fancy each other but found the other attractive, so, bam. Fuck-buddies. They mostly did it after parties or something, tongues and limbs loosened by shots and horniness amplified by them as well. The beauty of it was that they were good friends outside of all that, they studied together and hung out as regular mates do. She missed that easiness.

"That was great," Lewis panted, chest heaving as he lit a fag, sprawled back in the bed "Make-up sex is always the best."

"Sure." She idly agreed, then paused, eyebrows furrowing and lips thinning "Lewis, did you _put_ the condom on?" She was certain she'd seen him do it, had he somehow _duped_ her? She'd say that was almost impressive if she wasn't fucking spooked at the prospect.

"Yeah." He said, then slipped it off and raised a brow "Ah. I think it broke. Waste of time." She felt her heart stop in her chest, and sat up to stare at the long tear in the condom. Her still heart began palpitating in her chest, slamming against her ribcage and all blood in her face drained when she realised this was his plan all a-fucking-long. "This isn't so bad is it?" He asked, sitting up and kissing her neck "We could have a family together. It'd be a bastard, but," He laughed "we can fix that."

No. Abso-fucking-lutely not. This couldn't be happening. No, no she couldn't cope with this. She didn't _want_ to cope with this. This was too far, he could bruise her, beat her bloody or burn her but he wasn't bringing a baby into a relationship as fucked up as theirs. She wouldn't let an innocent, harmless kid suffer in a world like hers.

"You'd be an okay mum, but you'd have to work on it." He teased, fingering a lock of her hair. Emily dug her nails into her palms, biting her lip as if to cage the beast threatening to jump out and beat the living _shit_ out of Lewis.

* * *

Lewis drove her to the community centre, so she couldn't even quickly jog to the doctors to get the morning after pill. He stood outside the centre until she was inside, then drove away. She exhaled a breath, then slowly traipsed to the hall where the others were. Kelly was on the dance floor, doing the robot it seemed and Emily sighed in relief, aiming to go and join her when Sally stepped in front of her before she could go any further. "You're late." She said.

"Good observation." Emily replied, trying to side step her only to be cut off again by the stubborn woman.

"A word in my office? Just a second." She demanded, her creased face left no room for discussion before she began leading Emily to the familiar office and slumped in the chair opposite the desk.

"Yes?" Emily started.

"You're late by 25 minutes." Sally said "That won't look good on your record, nor will it help you later in life. You need to be on time to show you can change your behaviour."

"My humble apologies." Emily responded "Can I go do my hours now?"

"One minute," Sally frowned as she leant forward on her elbows, lines deepening in her face "Are you hungover?"

"Possibly." Emily grumbled "As long as I'm here, surely that shouldn't matter. I'm doing my hours. I'll even stay 25 minutes afterwards if you want me to. To make up my hours."

Sally stared for a moment, face set then said in the sort of voice you'd use on a friend during a mid-life crisis; soft, gentle, as if walking on eggshells "If you want to do that, I won't stop you."

"Cheers for that."

The woman looked like she had more to say, more to ask, her stubborn tongue desperate to demand more obvious answers to her questions, to dig a little, dig up truths she probably already knew anyway. But she kept her mouth sealed, and beckoned for Emily to leave, which she did so with relieved haste.

Once back in the hall with the other aged guests and her fellow scumbags, Emily grimaced at the song choice _(My life is brilliant/My love is pure/I saw an angel/Of that I'm sure)_ and then threw her back on a chair with her coat and plonked down on a chair, massaging her temples with her forefingers. She felt worse than she had in months, a sickening jolt in her stomach and vomit rising in her throat every few minutes but these weren't just because of her tendency to over-drink.

Emily was a prick, again. Kelly gave her the push she needed, but it wasn't enough. Nothing was enough to give her the strength to leave Lewis, he had a hold on her that nobody else had in her life. Not even her family had a hold on her as tight as he did. God, Kelly was really going to be pissed at her-

"Oi, where the hell've you been? Jesus, you look like shit." Emily jumped, twisting to see Kelly standing behind her, hands on hips, lips pursed. Just the sight of her made Emily grimace out a sarcastic smile.

"What every girl wants to hear." Emily snarked.

 _Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't, don't, don't._

"I can fuckin' 'ear ya y'know." Kelly deadpanned "Don't fink about wha'?" Kelly narrowed her eyes at Emily, who felt herself begin to sweat through her top.

"Uuh-C'mon, let's dance!" On a quick, spontaneous decision, she lurched to her feet, ignoring the drumming in her head and the dance party in her stomach, dragging a protesting Kelly back to the dance floor.

She ended up dancing with Mr Lawson, the man from before and boogied like she had never boogied before. Awkwardly and stiffly, because you can't really get hot and heavy in a place like this.

 _Yes, she caught my eye_

 _As we walked on by_

 _She could see from my face that I was_

 _Fuckin' high-_

"Now they were the good old days!" Mr Lawson bellowed, spinning her in circles until she was both laughing and on the verge of collapse from dizziness on max percent.

"You've lived a wild life, Mr Lawson." She commented, then reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a flask "In the mood for a brandy? I didn't forget it this time."

"Oh, my lord, you are a saint." He breathed, tugging her to the armchairs he had decided were his and pouring two glasses "They don't let me drink because they say it'll kill me but by Amen to that, am I right?" She snorted "Here ya go lass, to wild lives!" He cheered.

"I dunno if I can drink anymore-" She shook her head in refusal, jumping when a curly haired prick shot over, took the glass and downed it in one then stomped off again to his seat where he slouched.

"Golly, he looks down in the dumps. Finally regretting his multitude of poor life choices, I bet." Mr Lawson scoffed, sipping his brandy.

"Yeah, possibly." She said distractedly "I'll be right back."

"Oh, take your time, lass." He waved a hand as she stood and approached him, nudging the back of his curly hair with the flask until he jolted and snapped his head towards her.

"Four-eyes." He mumbled in acknowledgement, not even blinking when she fell into a chair beside him. They'd been on edge since their face-down outside the pub, and she was putting an emphasis on privacy between the co-offenders, but that didn't mean she couldn't attempt half-arsed comfort.

"I have a tendency to comfort friends with the usage of alcohol, which you know." She told him, looking around the dance floor. Kelly was doing the robot again with a man in a wheelchair, Alisha was dancing in a way far too promiscuous for weak hearted old men, Curtis was getting down and dirty and Simon looked stiff but seemed to be having a good time. Maybe he'd volunteer even after their 200 hours were up and over. That'd look good on a CV, right next to ex-offender.

"This brandy? Tastes like shite." He said, but took the offered flask and downed it, throat bobbing with every swallow.

"Brought it for Mr Lawson, but another mouthful and he'd probably have a heart attack, so it's all yours." She explained "Besides, I'm already hungover so I'd probably throw up if I had another mouthful."

"Why're you hungover?"

"'Cos I was drinking."

"Don't get fuckin' smart with me, four eyes."

"Can't not be what I am."

He snickered half-heartedly, handing her the empty flask which she slid back into her pocket "Four eyes, about when we were at the pub, I-" He cut off suddenly, body stiffening and eyes becoming slightly panicked. Emily looked in the direction his eyes were focused on and pondered on why the fuck he looked so terrified of a little, old woman.

"Uh, Nathan-" She tried, but he let out a shriek and dodged the old woman and ran outside through the front doors. Emily stared at the spot he was in in bafflement before turning to the old woman and smiling apologetically.

"I'm sorry about him, he's…a dick." She ended pathetically "Would you like a drink? I'm, uh, all out of brandy but I could make you a cuppa? None of that herbal stuff though."

"T-Thank you." The old woman nodded her head and sat down on a sofa far from the dance floor whilst Emily went to make her a cup of tea. One sugar with a lot of milk and handed her the teacup that she was sure her nan had owned once.

"I'm sorry again for Nathan, he's not usually- that's a lie, he's often a bit of an arse, but I'll go find him and tell him to apologise."

"No, no." The woman said "That's alright. I hurt him, it was my fault."

"…Huh?" Emily said, confused "What happened, might I ask?"

"I…I think that should be something Nathan tells you." The woman said "I'm Ruth by the way, it was nice meeting one of Nathan's friends. When you see him, can you tell him I'm sorry? I didn't mean for it to happen."

Ruth. Emily recognised that name. Ruth, Ruth, Ruth. Nathan mentioned one of the volunteers were called that, the pretty, blonde woman but she wasn't here today and Nathan looked almost as nauseous as Emily felt-

Oh God. Oh _God_.

Emily might _actually_ throw up.

* * *

Nathan was sitting against a stone pillar with a fag in his mouth when they all approached. They had changed into her orange jumpsuits on Sally's order and headed out to litter pick the area, but instead they found the granny-fucker. Honestly, after her revelation with Ruth, Emily did need closure. If Nathan fucked an old woman willingly then she would have to reconsider her loyalties.

"Ey, what happened to you?" Curtis asked, bin bag over his shoulder.

Nathan swallowed "I will not be in a room where that song is playin'." He excused "Line in the sand, my friend."

"Some old woman was lookin' for ya." Kelly told him, glaring at Emily who picked up an apparently used condom with disgust before dropping it in Curtis' bin bag specifically, earning her a grimace. "Em made her tea."

"Cheers very much, four eyes." He mocked.

"You're welcome. She needed a good come down after _that_ rejection." She grinned, looking at him like the possible-pervert he was. His eyes widened, and he looked away fast like maybe Emily was the one with telepathy and not Kelly.

Kelly's jaw suddenly dropped, and Nathan's face scrunched up. Emily held back a bark of laughter knowing that he totally just thought about it and poor Kelly had to be subjected to that sort of sin. "You shagg'd ar?" Kelly cried.

"Yeah. Yeah, nice one. I gave her a right good seein' to." Nathan replied sarcastically, but there was no way in fresh hell he would get away with playing this off as a joke. Emily could see in their eyes that they were here for blood.

Kelly exclaimed in bemused disgust "You totally screwed her." Alisha declared, lips pursed in horror before cackling laughter erupted from her lips. Kelly's face dropped when she realised she'd just outed Nathan's horrifying secret to everyone.

"No." Nathan cried, lurching to his feet "No!"

"You nailed that old woman? Nah, that is wrong." Curtis grimaced.

Simon stared then said flatly "Did you enjoy it?" Emily snorted, covering her mouth with her hand when Nathan sent her an almost betrayed stare. It _almost_ made her feel bad. Not quite, though.

"Shut up, you little freak!" Nathan barked at Simon.

"I think he enjoyed it." Simon smirked.

"Are you into that?" Curtis asked.

Emily groaned at his question and piped up "Your morbid curiosity is showing, mate."

"I'm just askin'!"

"No!" Nathan shouted "She didn't look like that when we started, okay? You remember that bird Ruth from Tuesday? Beautiful, yeah? That wrinkly old bint…that's her! It was the storm. It made her young again."

Alisha bobbed her head like she hadn't even listened and said "Please, please tell me you didn't…" She mimed oral in a way that would've once made Nathan pop a boner, like that lucky little bottle/breathalyser during their first session. But not this time, Emily watched Nathan pale whilst she and the other offenders cracked up. "He did! He did! For God's sake!"

"Oh for fuck sake, you put your mouth on my flask. That's had nan fanny on it!" Emily barked in horror, only sending Alisha and Curtis into another round of laughter.

Nathan looked like the definition of defeated, and in turn Kelly's face would totally be under the definition of the word guilt. "She's not a nan," Nathan said "she doesn't have any grandkids."

Emily snickered, turning away as Kelly jogged after a retreating Nathan "Oh, silly me. That makes it all better."

"You could sell it on eBay." Alisha told her, giggling.

"Tempting. Think I'd make a fortune?" Emily snorted.

"I think you'd be making some perverts day." Curtis responded, lips stretched into a mocking grin "Nathan's, probably."

"Granny Fucka!" They all jolted and turned when Kelly yelled that out. Emily wondered for a moment, if that was how chav's apologised, which only got her a firm shove, jumpsuit fabric (rough, uncomfortable) grazing the wound on her wrist.

"Ah, jesus! Mind out." Emily hissed, grabbing her wrist to ease the sharp pain crawling up her hand then stalked forwards to walk next to Simon. As much as she liked Kelly, her power crossed a boundary and it made her effortlessly uncomfortable.

A girl needed some secrets.

* * *

"I told you there'd be other people who got messed up by the storm and _you_ didn't believe me." Kelly said as they were getting changed. Emily lifted her head slightly as she pulled on her hoodie.

"Yeah, well, I was wrong, wasn't I?" Nathan replied, hands shoved deep in his pockets.

"Never thought I'd see the day where you admit you were wrong." Emily piped.

"I'm not entirely pleased with admittin' it." He snarked "There's a hurricane of weird shit out there. Oh! Another oral sex gag, brilliant."

"Lacking on the creativity front, huh, Alisha?" Emily raised a brow, accepting the middle finger shot at her with ease. "Calm your tit-"

"We need to be ready for when they come after us." Simon suddenly said, and the seriousness in his tone made all their heads turn to him.

"What're ya talkin' about?" Kelly demanded.

"The other people who got caught up in the storm." Simon explained, as if they were idiots for not thinking that those who were affected by the storm wouldn't come to hunt them down.

"Why would they come after us?" Curtis asked.

"Because that's what people do." Simon replied.

"Yeah, well, if they do, we'll just tell 'em it was all your fault." Nathan decided, turning to the mirror to fix up his curls. What a diva, Emily thought, snickering at his turned back.

"How'd it be his fault?" She asked curiously.

"I dunno, it usually is." Nathan answered, then faltered "Um, you know that note we found in your locker? I think it was talkin' about the probation worker." Emily froze where she stood by her own locker, and turned to see the missing poster for Tony Morecombe taped inside of Nathan's locker. The words 'I KNOW' written in dark ink on the sheet was enough for all of them to know this was serious. Way more serious than the day the other super-powered fuckers come for their heads.

* * *

 **A/N: thanks for reading, reviews make my flowers blossom x**


	7. Mission Quit and Flit

**A/N: Another chapter? Wow. It hasn't even been three months yet. Hope I haven't 'lost' Emily's character in my absence! Thanks for reading and commenting and pls leave a comment, it's always a booster for the next chapter ;) x**

* * *

Emily, without a doubt, was considering cutting alcohol off her list the minute it solved all her problems. She'd been consuming the shite since that night with Lewis, downing vodka from water bottles during the sessions disguised as water, whiskey in flasks, chugging a bottle of gin on her way to community service. Someone might start thinking she should go to AA.

"Someone knows we killed him." Kelly said, tightening her ponytail.

"Do you think it could be Sally?" Simon asked.

Curtis scoffed "Who's Sally?"

Emily finished her mouthful of the devil's water and shoved the flask deep into the pocket of her jumpsuit, turning around with her back against the locker "The probation worker." She answered.

Nathan leered "Ooh, Sally. Why'd you both know her name?"

"She told us." Simon stuttered.

"You're a twat because Sally didn't show up till the day after we killed the other probation worker. I suppose you know his name too?"

Simon's neck went blotchy and flushed before he said "Tony."

" _Do you love him?"_ Nathan demanded.

"Oh for fuck sake," Emily rolled her eyes until she was sure her pupils would never leave the inside of her skull. She shouldn't do that, it made her head ache. Nathan really did have that affect on people. "Leave the poor sod alone, you menace."

Nathan leered "Want me to start botherin' you then, four eyes?"

"Please do, I need a reason to whack you round the head."

"That's domestic violence, I'll have you know, four eyes." He stuck his nose in the air as Emily let out an undignified yet entirely bemused snort that Alisha grimaced at. Kelly glanced at her from the corner of her eye. Emily took another swig.

"He's right though, she wasn't 'ere." Kelly, albeit reluctantly, agreed.

"If I'm invisible, I can see if anyone puts anything else in our lockers." Simon suggested slowly, uncertainly. Hell, she'd be pretty uncertain about talking of her power if at first nobody believed her and instead threw a can at her forehead. Lucky for her, her power appeared suddenly and everyone witnessed her finest moment; slamming into the ceiling whilst weeping.

"Sounds like a plan." Curtis nodded, then turned to Alisha who met his heated gaze in the reflection of the mirror. His grin became cheeky, and flirtatious in a way that made Emily want to gag, and not because she was on the verge of alcohol poisoning. "You alright with that, yeah?"

"Works for me." She smirked. Little wench knew exactly what affect she had on him.

"Go on then," Curtis suddenly said, turning to Simon "Turn invisible."

Pure nastiness. All eyes were on Simon now, Simon with his hands in his pockets, jumpsuit legs and sleeves down, collar as tight as possible. She had a passing afterthought of him just wetting himself then and there and scolded herself for being so horrible. He was a good guy.

"Let's not pressure him, now." Emily said, reasonably "We're _maturing_ small-time criminals, we don't have to be proper scumbags."

"Ugh, why're you defendin' 'im? 'im of all people!" Nathan groaned.

Simon shot a glance her way, something akin to a smile on his face but she wasn't so sure, it looked an awful lot like a grimace "I-I can't do it when everyone's watching me."

"So, I guess it's like pissin' at a urinal if you've got a tiny cock." Nathan said. She actually thought it was a fair simile to be honest, got the gist of it across fairly simply.

"You'd know all about that, huh?" She replied, absently choosing a song on her iPod to listen to during their 'maturing sessions'.

Alisha rolled her eyes "Well, er, that's really impressive." Then stalked away, the others following close behind her.

"Hey, if it's any consolation, I saw it, remember?" She patted Simon on the shoulder with a grin, any solace would do, right? His eyes slid down her arm to the small reddish pink hole blemishing the area that joins her arm and hand. She froze.

"What happened to your wrist?" He asked quietly, voice merely a murmur.

It was odd, she thought, talking to someone about this that wasn't Kelly, who would know all if you just thought about it. Kelly knew Lewis' thoughts, she knew Emily's too. She probably understood all this shit more than Emily did, so talking to Simon who didn't know as much as the telepath about her situation was new.

"It's a long story." Emily smiled weakly, slowly retracting her hand from his stiff shoulder.

"You can tell me." Simon quickly told her, voice practically torn from his throat as if he felt he didn't have enough time to say it "I saw you – last time. You didn't say how that happened but you-you can tell me now, if you need to."

"That's…awful nice of ya, but…" She trailed off, not quite able to find the words to finish the sentence. In the end, she ended it with a shrug and an uncertain, so-so expression that her mother would scold her for. ' _Impolite'_ she would've said _'Not how you end a conversation.'_ Just like ending a conversation by saying ' _later_!' is rude because it's so casual, like the goodbye doesn't matter.

She quickly jogged to catch up with the others, standing beside Kelly whilst a fairly average looking man wearing a chequered shirt with floppy mousy hair blathered on about their task for the day. "Okay, so all of these clothes have been donated by members of the public and we need to sort them before we ship them out to Africa."

"We're gonna get fuck all done." Kelly muttered.

"Too right, this is gonna be a field day for everyone." Emily snickered, smiling innocently when the man raised a brow in her direction.

"Just another day in paradise." Alisha commented sarcastically.

"Yeah, well, I'm sure the people receiving them will be grateful for your hard work." The man replied.

"Only thing hard Alisha's ever been close to is-" Nathan guffawed as Kelly whacked the back of his head, cutting his sentence short. Alisha glared at Nathan – fuck, if looks could kill, he would be a corpse splayed on the pile of clothes then and there.

"It's almost like you want people to hate you." Emily commented.

"Always been a fan of tough love." Nathan winked.

The man coughed to gain everyone's attention again "Ah-hem, yeah, anyway, this work will be easy and generous, so it's not too bad."

"Well, they _should_ be grateful, they're getting a new wardrobe." Alisha said whilst hopping over a larger pile of clothes.

"You are so wrong." Curtis scoffed.

"Alright, so these are the categories to sort them into. It's children's clothes, shoes, coats, that sort of thing." He instructed "Ok, so if you've got any questions, just ask."

Immediately, Nathan's hand shot into the air "If a bear and a shark got into a fight, who would win?" He asked sassily, twizzling his finger at the bloke like he just proved him wrong or questioned his manhood. Emily snickered at the look of baffled bewilderment on his face.

"If you've got any relevant questions, just ask."

"What a wet blanket." Emily droned, unamused.

"And if it's on dry land, I'd bet on the bear." The man quickly finished, before leaving. Dramatic exit or what? Emily watched him leave with an air of disdain around her, and she wasn't the only one. Curtis seemed totally put off by the guy, maybe he saw him as competition for Alisha's panties.

On a different note, Kelly was right; they got absolutely fuck all done. She wondered how the hell they – them, of all people – could be trusted with shit like this. Or any responsibility really. This was giving the delinquents a whole wardrobe to try on and the higher ups expected them to get work done? As if. They'd have to be properly retarded if they thought instead of fucking about – from across the pile, Kelly tugged on a pair of white and yellow pyjama bottoms over her jumpsuit and then thrust her hips out in a very ladylike fashion – that they'd sit there, cross legged, sorting through clothes like good little developing offenders.

"There's a used condom in these high waisted khaki shorts," Emily grimaced, throwing them across the room onto Nathan's head. Kelly snorted as he squawked, batting at them until they tumbled to the floor.

"No way, that's bullshit- ugh, oh god, that's fuckin' rank." Nathan exclaimed, tilting the shorts upside so it fell onto the ground with a slapping noise "Who the fuck keeps a condom? I mean, it'd make sense if I did it, my sperm is invaluable but still!

"Maybe the guy was thinking ' _just had a shag, let's keep this to commemorate the time we spent together?"_ Emily suggested innocently.

"So, it's a s _ouvenir?"_ Nathan raised a brow "Maybe his lass was totally into storing cum, I saw this post on the internet that some people cum into jars and fill it to the top-"

Kelly groaned loudly in disgust "Shot op! That's disgustin', just frow it away already."

" _I_ don't wanna touch it!" Nathan replied "I can't even pick it up with the shorts, they might absorb the HIV into the fabric! I _cannot_ be to blame for infecting all of Africa!"

"Imagine _that_ on your criminal record." Emily smirked, pulling out a horrible shirt that looked like something her mum might wear; frilly and flowery, definitely not Emily's style for sure. She pulled it on anyway. "Stole pick 'n' mix _and_ infected the second largest continent with HIV. That's 0 to 100 right there."

"Has a sorta ring to it, dunn'it? A deeper meanin'." Nathan pondered, chin in hand as if he was thinking of something wise and deep to say, philosophical even – sort of like El Pensador - but anyone who'd heard Nathan say a single sentence knew that wasn't going to happen "I'd be famous, at least."

"You wanna be remembered for _that_?" Curtis rolled his eyes.

"Fame is fame, buddy." Nathan replied, then shoved his hand into a bin bag, pulling out a ski boot with a shit-eating grin on his stupidly annoying face "Ski-wear. Classic."

"Just what the people in Africa need." Emily cracked a grin.

"Exactly! Try walking ten miles to the well in these." Nathan scoffed, holding them up "Hey, hey, hey. Who am I?" He asked, pulling the goggles over his head and started singing One Love by U2 in a voice similar to after suffering a stroke. Or the lead singer of Nickelback. Emily watched in disdain, turning to peak at the others and seeing similar expressions. Good to know she wasn't the only one left in the dark.

"C'mon!" Nathan exclaimed in exasperation when he realised nobody was going to understand his impression "Okay, all right, all right, I'll give ya a clue. I'm an _annoying cunt_."

That startled a laugh out of Emily, who snickered into the jeans she was folding "You didn't have to tell _us_ that."

"We know." Alisha scoffed.

"I'm Bono!" Nathan cried, voice echoing through the room as the door opened and a girl with dark skin, wearing a cap walked in, hands fidgeting by her chest like she really didn't want to be there. Sally followed not far behind with the same pursed lip expression scarred on her once probably pretty face. Emily winced, she was getting to be too harsh. Maybe the other offenders were influencing her.

"Who's that then?" Emily whispered.

"It's the girl I 'ad a fight wiv." Kelly explained "I've gotta do some restorative justice bollocks wiv her."

"You poor thing." Emily crooned, narrowly avoiding having a polo shirt with a disturbing dark stain on the front of it lobbed at her face. Kelly sent her the middle finger with a 'not-putting-up-with-your-shit' smile on her face before she got dragged to her _'restorative justice bollocks'._

Once she'd gone, Emily let out a sigh of guilty relief. It was hard to have to control your thoughts constantly, she'd taken to listing her favourite brands of cereal – rice krispies were the best – to her least favourite comedians – Amy Schumer was up in the Top 5. She hoped no sneaky vacant thoughts slipped through her aggravating mental list taking, she didn't need Kelly knowing all of this when she would solve it. She would have to, in the end or else it might become her forever.

Emily snorted humourlessly. When had she started referring to Lewis and the possible demon spawn inside her 'it'?

"Care to share the joke with the class?" Nathan asked, lobbing a pair of dungarees at her head. This time she wasn't fast enough to dodge them and got a face full of fake denim.

"That, of course." Emily said, beckoning to Curtis' deathly glare sent at the man, who'd just said that Alisha suited the ugliest dress Emily had ever seen. Red polka dots on white, she didn't see the appeal. He was totally just trying to get in Alisha's pants.

"What, Curtis' flaccid cock cryin' in his jumpsuit?" Nathan replied.

"Obviously." She bobbed her head "Look, she's preening."

"Like a cat being suggestively rubbed." Nathan nodded, pausing when Emily stopped and sent him a grossed-out stare "What? I'm just conversin'! God, the likes o' you people…"

Emily rolled her eyes with an amused grin, digging out a pair of tatty old roller skates from beneath a pair of knickers that could fit her, Nathan, Kelly, Simon, Curtis AND Alisha in them at once. The skates remind her suddenly, vividly, of her dad. The breaks on the skates are broken, but that doesn't stop her from toeing off her converse and slipping into them instead, standing on unsteady legs.

"What are you? Bambi?" Nathan called from across the room as she slowly starts skating around the room, she stuck her middle fingers up at Nathan as she glided past "You're puttin' the rest of us to shame, four-eyes, as slackers! At least we're doin' our job, you're _completely_ off task!"

"You skate a lot then?" Curtis asked, watching her slowly glided around the room, movements languid and calm, keeping her body relaxed as her dad always told her to.

"Used to." She replied idly, "Me and my dad used to skate a lot, but haven't done this in a while." Her dad used to be a paper boy as a kid, instead of the customary bike, he used to skate and then taught her how to skate and it sort of became their thing. Tyler had the balanced of a one-legged dog so he was useless at it and used his skills in other areas, usually taking photos of the two on their daily outings. Even though the setting wasn't really like before, and without the large, sturdy form of her father beside her, it didn't really feel the same but in that small moment, she felt a sudden wave of nostalgia.

"You're good." Curtis told her, almost looking impressed.

"Is roller skatin' an Olympic sport?" Nathan piped up, innocently whistling a tune when Curtis shot a glare in his direction.

Emily stopped in her gentle gliding around the room and slipped them off to pull her converse back on, giving them to the eager Nathan to show off his own skill. It took him a minute to get his footing and a soft push from Emily to get him started.

"Eyy, look at me!" He cried "I'm four eyes!"

"Wow, my looks have faded." She droned.

"Ouch, that really hurts, right here." He pouted, hand over his heart as he glided close to Sally's office. He tugged the ski goggles over his and threw his arm out "Ahhhhh!" He sung.

"What the hell is he doin'?" Alisha frowned.

"Didn't you hear?" Emily snickered, distractedly folding a few t-shirts to place in the 'children's clothes' pile "He's the entertainment."

"If that's what you wanna call it." Curtis mocked.

The door to Sally's office slammed open and Sally walked out, brows low over her eyes "Take the roller skates off. _And_ the goggles." Nathan paused, and raised a brow at her. Emily could practically the words 'seriously?' written on his forehead " _Take them off!"_ She finally barked, sighing in the way people to when they're counting to ten to calm down.

"Poor woman has a work load having to deal with us." Emily stated when the door close again.

"Nothing wrong with _most_ of us." Alisha said with a flick of her perfectly coiffed hair.

"Ouch." Nathan fell backwards onto a full bin bag, clutching at his chest, the position he was in made the baby blue blazer's shoulder pads bunch up and look ridiculous "That so totally wounded me."

Emily said "Loving the theatrics."

"You're the only one, get out of the fuckin' way-" Curtis shoved at Nathan who tried to slide a baseball cap onto his already hatted head "Prick."

"Keep it down girls." Alisha droned, fixing up the glittery dress she was showing off whilst standing on the table.

The door to Sally's office once again slammed open and the girl – Jodi – stormed out, this time without her brown leather jacket or baseball cap, she was yelling "She's getting' life! She headbutt me!"

"Just get out." Sally said.

"YOU SLUT WHORE!" Jodi screeched, being ushered out by a fretting Sally, who Emily thought had probably aged at least ten years in the few days she'd been supervising them. As much as the woman grated on her nerves, there would always be a certain amount of sympathy she felt for any probation worker they got. Tony Morecombe was one of them, despite how much he scared the shit out of her the day he was killed.

A chair flew out of Sally's office's doorway, making Emily jolt in tying the flowey skirt-wrap around her waist "Shot op you twat!" Kelly shouted.

" _Kelly_!" Sally exclaimed in shock.

"I was tryin' to be nice!" Kelly shot back, sparing the rest of them a short glance before storming off in the other direction, obviously fuming. For a moment, the rest just stood there, absorbing the recent events like the shorts absorbed HIV.

Curtis said "I think that went pretty well."

Emily smirked in reluctant amusement before climbing to her feet and untying the skirt, then set off to find Kelly.

* * *

"-Y'know most people 'ate their exes so I just said 'er ex 'ad a rat's face and that he sniffed glue and all that. She blew it way outta proportion, honestly. I was tryin' to be nice." Kelly huffed, blowing smoke out of her nose.

"Some couples break up on good terms. Maybe they were one of them?" Emily suggested.

"I dunno. Darren never does anyfin on 'good terms'. 'E's a cunt anyway. Doin' that bollocks was a waste of time, me and that bitch'll never get along." Kelly frowned, tugging on the sleeves around her wrists "I guess I shouldn'ta thrown the chair at 'er, but still."

"From my perspective, that didn't look like apologising, but if you had good intentions, then maybe you just have to reword what you said." Emily began "Say sorry, s'not always good enough but it's a start."

Kelly laughed, shoving at her shoulder amicably "Stop bein' so fockin' wise." She barked, then offered the fag to her.

"No way, this is who I am." Emily laughed, placing the offered fag between her lips "Gotta accept me as I am, what you see is what you get."

"Right." Kelly scoffed "You don't look much like ya got an A* in English."

"I thought the glasses would give that away." Emily deadpanned, exhaling a laugh when Kelly sneered at her, dropping it on the ground and stomping on it with the heel of her shoe.

As they meandered back into the facility, Kelly asked "Didja ever read Lord o' the Flies?"

"In High School, yeah."

"Boy in my school actually killed a pig on 'is dad's farm for a presentation in class, handed the pictures out an everyfin. Got a call home and excluded for a week because o' violent content shown to minors or whateva. Pretty sure he got an F on the presentation too." Kelly told her.

"What the ever-loving fuck?" Emily crowed "What school did you go to? Never mind, I don't wanna know. Ignorance is bliss and all that."

Kelly sniggered, then asked "What school did you go to?"

"Didn't go to school around here," Emily replied "Lived near Middlesex to start with, went to St. Marianne's up until I was like, fifteen then Baldrick's Academy."

"Shit, you went to an all-girls school? In't that really religious or somefing?" Kelly balked.

"Well, my parents didn't want me around guys. Though it _was_ a Catholic school which I did not sign up for. They preferred me being around my own gender, but then thought ' _hey, she might be end up being wary around the opposite gender when she leaves school so let's shove her in a public school for the last two years.'"_

"Did ya 'ave to wear skirts down to your ankles or wot?"

"I want to say no, so badly."

Kelly guffawed "Seriously? God, that musta sucked like 'oly hell."

"Fitting." Emily commented, remembering how the skirt brushed against the clunky black shoes she had to wear. She'd never be seen dead in clothes like that again in a million years.

"Is that wot they looked like?"

Emily paused, swallowing the sudden tennis ball that appeared in her throat and absently started listing her favourite books.

 _· Of Mice and Men was a good book, she read it in College_

 _· Tyler suggested Grapes of Wrath, she still had that copy somewhere_

 _· Emily stole Lolita off him before she left home_

 _· Junkie was good_

 _· So was Naked Lunch, in a weird way_

"Em," Kelly said "Oi, I'm talkin' to ya."

"Hm, what?" Emily jolted, looking at Kelly, who's eyebrows were drawn in close, lips pursed thoughtfully.

"It makes me uncomfortable too, ya know." Kelly told her "A guy in a Tesco car park thought that I looked like I should be his date to a pig party. Pissed me righ' off."

"What a cunt." She immediately replied on instinct "Kelly, it's not that…Well, it's just I would like to have _some_ secrets." Emily admitted awkwardly, scratching the nape of her neck "What if I'm thinkin' of something really weird that I did in private?"

"It's pretty fockin' obvious what sorta fings you wanna hide." Kelly retorted.

"It's only obvious to you because you can dig through my head." Emily pointed out.

With a harsh, throaty sigh, Kelly opened the doors and walked inside "You're not as subtle as you fink. Simon knows, Nathan sorta does too."

"Ah, but Curtis and Alisha are completely unaware." Emily replied dryly, ignoring Kelly's pointed expression.

"It ain't funny." Kelly said, obviously "Does your power ever bug you?"

"Does my defensive 'get-away-from-what-I'm-afraid-of' power bug me? Nah, not at all." Emily drawled sarcastically. Kelly's next glare is practically scathing, enough so that Emily has the decency to look sheepish "I've hit the bathroom ceiling enough times that the ceiling is starting to crack, so yeah, it does bug me. Plus I'm getting major back pain from it."

"Maybe you can control it or somefing." Kelly shrugged, shoving at a pissing around Nathan who was tackling the vending machine again, he traipsed along with them as they walked to the changing rooms "Practice makes perfect and all that bollocks."

"Are ya talkin' about sex?" Nathan asked, eyebrows bobbing suggestively.

"No, you fuckin' wanker." Kelly deadpanned.

"Jesus, kitty got claws." Nathan mockingly roared at Kelly, flinching away from her angry stomp in his direction with a pathetic meow "What as all that in Miss. What's Her Name's office then?"

"I was only sayin' that the lad she used to go out wiv was a dick." Kelly explained, stalking to her locker "I was only bein' nice!"

"Oh yeah, you were bein' lovely." Nathan crowed "Right up until you threw a chair at her."

"I told Em I shouldn'a done that."

"Repentance, good for the soul that is."

"Em would know, she went to an all-girl Catholic school." Kelly smirked at the betrayal carved on Emily's face "She 'ad to wear skirts down to the ankles and these giant, black plimsoll shoes."

"Kelly, what's said in girl talk, stays in girl talk!" Emily gasped dramatically.

Nathan picked his jaw up from the floor, staring at Emily with bugging eyes "Wait, seriously? Four-eyes, I'd expect you to be wearing cardigans and clogs in the name of our father, who art in heaven!" Nathan exclaimed in shock.

"I'm surprised you know the Lord's prayer." She replied.

"Oh god." Nathan said "She's a Christian!"

"I'm an Atheist, actually."

"Good! If you started singin' hymns and shite then we'd have a lot to discuss, mainly about your _sanity_ -" Curtis let out a shocked gasp and slammed his locker door shut. Simon stood close to where Curtis' locker door had been, looking at him like a disturbed animal.

"Don't be doin' that shit around me!" Curtis demanded harshly, then furrowed his brows "You been in here all day?"

Simon smiled, satisfied "Yeah."

"Wot 'appened?" Kelly asked.

Simon, creepily, kept his eyes on Curtis, sparing only the shortest of glances at them "Nothing." He said "No one came in."

Nathan gasped "That's an anti-climax!" He sneered mockingly, and turned on his heel to leave, Kelly following soon after. Emily stared at Simon, his creepy little face paling – if that was even possible – becoming slightly uncomfortable as he shifted on the spot then moved away.

Without another peep from her, she took a swig from her flask and slowly ambled out of the changing rooms.

* * *

There was a pregnancy test on the counter when she got back to Lewis' flat. She stared at it like a one would an enemy, like it had just offended her mother, like it was horrible to her brother when _she_ was the only one allowed to be a bitch to him. It felt heavy in her hands, like she'd just picked up a fucking boulder or Lewis' ego. Just the sight of it made her stomach roll.

 _Could be the gin and tonic,_ her mind supplied.

Emily knew it wouldn't work. Her and Lewis had only had sex like five days ago, so it would mean nothing using it now, but just looking at it made the situation pile on her shoulders, on her chest. Realisation of reality slammed onto her person.

What the _fuck_ had she been _doing_?

Why had she stayed with Lewis? WHY? He was never going to be the Lewis she had fallen in love with, he wouldn't suddenly turn a table and become cute, shy Lewis twisting the hair on the nape of his neck again. He hurt her so much, he blamed her for it.

 _WHY WAS SHE STAYING?_

And as much as she didn't want a baby, it shouldn't _pin_ her to him, a small human doesn't mean she has to stay with someone who would ultimately ruin _both_ of their lives.

Her shoulders shook with an unrelenting fury she hadn't felt since the first time Lewis laid his hands on her. She had blown a fuse that day, screamed at him, told him 'that isn't how you solve problems!' but it had been for him. Every time she acted in a way he didn't like –

But he had _managed_ it. He moulded her into exactly what he wanted her to be but Emily didn't _want_ to be his clay figure. She wanted to be Emily 'won't shut up about her A* in English' Ward, lightweight, procrastinator, small time delinquent, sister, daughter, _friend._

Without realising it, the small cardboard cylinder in her hand had been crushed, nails indenting the word 'PREGNANCY'. She thought it was fitting enough.

She dropped the ruined packaging onto the counter, and hurried to the bedroom where she piled jumpers, tops, jeans, the lot into a spare carrier bag. She placed her chargers and her makeup and her cigarettes in too, ignoring the things that didn't matter before leaving the bedroom.

Emily considered writing a note, but the thought vanished from her mind almost immediately. She had no time to fuck around, so she grabbed her backpack and hurried to the door.

But she froze. She could hear an engine cutting off outside and with her heart in her throat, peaked through the curtains to see the familiar BMW in the private car park to the flat. _Shit, shit, shit._

There was no elevator in this building. She couldn't hide in there and then leave through the lobby, if she left now then she'd had to cross Lewis on the stairs and she didn't want to know what injuries she'd sustain if he threw her down two floors. Emily would rather not be paralysed, thank you very much.

Keys jangled outside the door, imitating the rapid beating of her unstill heart.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm trying to post more frequently at the minute because I know for a fact I'll totally lose inspiration one day and leave it for like, a year, so when inspiration strikes, I'm spewing out chapters. Thanks for reading and commenting! x**


	8. Catharsis

**A/N: ...hey. So, I edited this whole chapter because I wasn't happy with it at all. I have no idea if this is how you expected or wanted the outcome to be, but I'm nervous about this chapter tbh. It's so different from the original but I'm happy with it, finally. Thank you so much for all the lovely comments, they really push me to finishing chapters! Thank you for all the follows and favourites as well, i appreciate it soooo much x**

* * *

It began with the quiet sense of horror she often felt; a discomforting tenseness surrounding the two as he stepped into the flat. Something was to be said but she was too much of a coward to say it and Lewis fucking knew that. It hung, and it hung, and it hung until it snapped and Emily told him she was leaving. In retrospect, she could have been smarter. She could have lied, said she was going to the shops or to see old Mrs Hendrick on the bottom floor and bolted but she had to choose _honesty_.

Lewis had stared at her with flat eyes when he spotted her, hand clenched on the windowsill, backpack on her shoulder and fire ablaze in her eyes. It was easy to assume her intention. She knew that as she watched him place his keys and his wallet on the table, letting out a gusty sigh before turning to her.

She opened her mouth quickly "Lewis." She bit out. It was all she could manage.

"What are you doing, Emily?" He asked, voice patronising as if she didn't understand what she was doing when this was the first time in three years she knew exactly what she was doing and knew for a fact that she would never, never in a million years, regret it.

"You know what I'm doing." She said, trying to force her voice not to shake "Something that should've happened years ago."

He rolled his eyes "Don't be stupid-"

"Fuck you." She snarled, inhaling a gasping breath "I'm not. Not anymore. I was stupid, so fucking _stupid_ for allowing this to go on for so _fucking_ long!"

His eyes hardened, taking a step forwards which ultimately made her take a step backwards. As much as she wanted to be strong, be brave, she couldn't face him down like she wanted to. She knew what he was capable of and she was nothing against that. "Allowing this?" He sneered, lips pulling in a horrible, ugly way.

She swallowed thickly, throat dry as she hefted the bag on her shoulder "I'm leaving." She said hoarsely, trying to move past him and clenching her fist tightly around the strap when he caught her arm in his hand.

"This is ridiculous!" He barked, pulling her backwards so she stood in front of him again "This is coming out of nowhere!"

"No, it isn't!" She shouted, eyes stinging "It isn't-"

"Why can't you just listen to me?" Lewis roared, veins in his forehead pulsing beneath his flushed skin.

"I ALWAYS listen to YOU!" Emily cried, digging her nails into the polished windowsill until her nails started to bend backwards "All I ever did was listen! Now I'm telling you that this is over!"

His face turned purple "You are not leaving this flat, not when you could be preg-"

"For God's sake, I've been drinking non-stop since we had sex, you moron! There's no way a five-day old foetus could survive that!"

Lewis grinded his teeth together "How could you do that?"

"I don't know what you mean." Emily sneered, clenching her toes in her shoes as if that might keep her closer to the ground "Did you really think a baby would make me stay? With you? Don't be fucking ridiculous!"

Lewis let out a terrible laugh, hollow. It made the hairs on her neck rise "Was it them? The others at the centre. Did they say somethin-"

"Don't you get it?" Emily shouted, temples buzzing with the blood flowing in her ears "You put a cigarette out on me, Lewis! You humiliate me, you-you-ugh!" She threw her hands in the air, frustration and a bubbling resentment rendering her unable to form the words she wanted- no, needed to say.

"Em," Lewis said, but she backed away from his outstretched arms, circling around the sofa until she was nearer the door "Em, I've been having trouble at work supporting the both of us, you have to cut me some sla-"

"No! No, I won't! I don't have to." Emily practically screeched "I don't have to do anything! I am _allowed_ to _leave_ you, Lewis."

His face changed then. Maybe he realised Emily was dead set on this, and if she left, she wouldn't come running back. Emily swallowed the fear down, knowing she had to do this, she had to. For her mum, for her dad, for her brother, for her friends, for herself. She shouldn't have to live in fear anymore.

But that didn't change him.

He lunged out, backhanding her hard across the face so she slammed into the wall, clutching at her red cheek. Her glasses cracked, flying off her face and cluttering to the floor. Tears stung in her eyes at the sharp pain, knowing glass from the lenses nicked her skin but she had little time to comprehend what just happened as hands were wrapping around her throat, pulling at her hair and fingers _digging in_. She slammed against the wall, backpack falling to the ground, letting out a strangled sound, scratching and clawing at his hands, his wrists, anything to make him _let go_ -

"You never learn." He hissed, face so close she could feel the spittle on her reddening face.

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't inhale, fuck she was going to die here, she didn't want to _fucking die here_ -

Emily could feel that her feet were no longer on the ground and the only thing keeping her down was Lewis hands wrapped around her neck. She thrashed with all her might, but he had a knee between her legs, keeping her still and prone against the wall.

With sickening horror, she realised she could do _nothing_.

Then suddenly, Emily's vision flashed, blurred and then Lewis' hands were gone from around her neck and he was slammed to the ceiling, head cracking against the surface. He shouted in shock and pain whilst Emily crumbled to the ground, spluttering and staring, eyes bulging from her skull in shock.

" _What the fuck did you do?_ " He roared, thrashing mid air but unable to get down from the ceiling. She inhaled deeply, one hand instinctively and protectively touching her throat, fingers grazing her skin. She stayed silent, paralysed to the ground – which was new for her since recently she was the one stuck to the ceiling but now, _now_ it was _Lewis_.

Slowly, like a rabbit sneaking away from a predator, she took her backpack in hand and put it over her shoulder then carefully tried to make her way past Lewis' hovering body. When she was under him, his arm shot out as if to grab her hair or knock his fist in her face but she jumped back, falling on her arse.

"Get me the _FUCK_ down from here _NOW_!" He screamed, face purple in fury – or maybe that was the oxygen going to his thick skull. From where she had fallen on the floor, she felt a sick sense of satisfaction at pissing the cunt off.

"No way." She snarled, palming the floor until her hand came in contact with the marble giraffe figurine her dad had reluctantly bought for them when they left. She wielded it like a sword, unsure of the outcome of this situation but sure that she would do whatever she could to _get the fuck out of this flat._ "Now," She said, voice stern but wavering "Don't move."

Spit flew from his lips "You're too much of a fucking coward." He hissed, jaw locked and fists clenched. Emily ignored him, slowly walking the same route as before, keeping her eyes locked on his thrashing form. Her eyes trained on his floundering limbs, shaking breath escaping her lips "I _swear to fucking God."_

"Stay fucking still." She shouted, quickly raising the figurine higher and hoped he understood that she _meant_ her threat. He gritted his teeth above her, eyes venomous and lips curled but he stopped thrashing and she made her move. Unsurely, eyes locked on him, giraffe figurine still high in the air. She was close to the door, she would make it-

Lewis moved, he might not have even been going to do something to hurt her but Emily's mind went blank. She swung the figurine without even thinking, without hesitation until it slammed into Lewis' head and with a startled bellow, he slumped forwards, head lolling to tuck against his chest before his body fell from the air and slammed into the ground again. Emily stared where she stood, watching his closed lids twitch and flicker but not open then stumbled back into the counter.

"Fuck." She panted, shoulders heaving as she licked her sweaty upper lip, grimacing at the taste of iron that filled her mouth. Emily felt a sense of unadulterated horror at what she'd done to Lewis, she'd reached his level, she'd become violent and made him bleed when she swore she would never do that to a person-

But then again, she was only recently an accessory to murder. And now she'd knocked her cunt of an ex unconscious.

"Jesus Christ…" Emily let out an astonished laugh, running her fingers through her hair, unable to tear her eyes away from the still but breathing body on the floor. What the fuck had she done? Should she regret it? She didn't but did that say something about her moral compass? Well, that was screwed anyway, she supposed.

Emily went around the room to avoid having to step over Lewis' body, afraid his hand might shoot out and wrap around her ankle. She picked up her cracked glasses and placed them back on, wincing at the damage then quietly unlocked the door, opening it. Without thinking, she lobbed the figurine down onto his back, feeling a small satisfaction at the painful sounding thud it made. She took deliberate steps out of the flat, locking it behind her with her set of keys and then walked down the stairs, fingers merely grazing the railing, not even gripping it as she left and refused to turn back. The lobby was empty when she turned up, the landlord was probably already asleep, which wasn't surprising since he was an early riser. The doors opened automatically, revealing the dark streets, streetlights yellows and flicker, roads riddled with cars zooming around in the night.

She'd done it, she thought, _finally_. She let out a deep sigh that loosened her shoulders and eased her heart, as if she'd been holding her breath. Maybe she _had been_ holding her breath all that time. But she didn't have to anymore because she never had to go back and face him and pretend everything was her wrong doing, act like he was allowed to hold her arm tight enough to bruise. She was free to be herself, to live and thrive and-

Emily had screwed her life up enough for Lewis. Now was her chance to right that wrong. She had so much to make up for, so much she _couldn't_ make up for. She didn't expect to be forgiven, but she would try if it meant she could see her family again.

Her life was small and insignificant, what could she build off of it? She was in community service, now homeless with only the clothes on her back and her rucksack and had never really had a proper job…Her teenage self never would've predicted this as her future, that was for damn sure. She imagined a university, maybe in Cambridge or central London, live life to the fullest as young adults should. She imagined a bright future with a steady, well-paying job that she didn't despise, stumble into a guy that she would inevitably fall in love with, fuck around, have fun before it became serious. Young Emily imagined falling in love and having children, living in a flat or a house, it didn't matter, maybe getting a dog (definitely getting a dog) and having a happy, fulfilling life. Average maybe, but still happy.

"Sorry, kiddo." Emily muttered, yanking out her pack of cigarettes and lighting it with a clip of the zippo. As bad as they were for a person, the minute she inhaled around the fag, she felt her limbs loosen and her shoulders slump, eyes lingering on the sight of the smoke disappearing into the dark, inky sky.

Emily, surprisingly, ended up outside of the community centre. Her feet seemed to just lead her to the most recent place she'd been, minus the flat of course. Though the lights were off and doors locked, so she would probably have to hide behind the building for the night until it opened and she could stay here.

"Hello?" Emily tried, knocking gently on the front door "Anyone in? C'mon, security guard, cleaning lady? Anyone?" She rapped her knuckles on the glass again, but nobody came to open the door to tell her to fuck off. Scowling, Emily slammed the toe of her foot into the door as if that would make all her problems seem a little bit smaller but ultimately it hurt her foot. "Fine." She pursed her lips, stalking away from the door and then pacing back and forth and back until she finally decided to try and find an open window or something. If worse came to worse, she'd lob a brick through a window and blame it on vandalism or a break in gone wrong.

She was honestly surprised at how well the locks worked in that shithole, you'd think that the locks would be rusted and easier to break than plastic but apparently she underestimated the shittiest community centre in south east London. They were _supposed_ to be shifty and easily accessible! Emily muttered angrily to herself as she wandered around the building, yanking on a hoodie from her backpack and eyeing each window hopefully only to be disappointed. She shouldn't be surprised by _that_ anymore.

But the light at the end of the tunnel was found by the garages, where a window that surely should be covered and locked by a shutter was wedged open and with enough strength, she rolled it up and clambered in, inwardly cheering when she made it inside. It was cold inside as well, but warmer than outdoors at least.

Emily lit up a fag as she wandered through the halls, wondering where would be a good place to kip until morning. A part of her hoped Sally smelt the undeniable scent of cigarette smoke just to bother her. Emily had no reason to hold this animosity towards Sally other than the fact that she acted as if she didn't know about Lewis and fuck did it bother her.

She splashed her face with water in the changing rooms, staring at a face that Emily no longer really recognised. Bags under her red rimmed eyes, her cheek was a vibrant red that would darken over time, her nose thankfully wasn't broken but there was a small cut on her cheekbone that stung whenever she moved her lips.

A part – a giant part – of Emily worried that she might start regretting her decision. She thought of Kelly telling her that Lewis thought horrible things about her, that Kelly thought she'd be better off without him, Sally's questions, Simon's expression when he saw the bruise, the burn. Nathan calling Lewis a cunt. She thought of it all, and couldn't regret it. But what if? Water dripped from her eyes, unwanted tears that glazed her eyes with a thin line of film, and suddenly, she was weightless and the world shifted-

Her back came into harsh contact with the ceiling, smacking into it with a loud thud and a bit back shout of icy hot frustration and pain. She supposed this was inevitable, but it meant more fucking back pain and memories of seeing Lewis hit the ceiling in the exact same way. Emily let out a groan, tucking her chin to her chest and grimacing, staring down at the far away tiles.

The door slammed open. "Holy shit." came a shocked voice " _Four eyes_? That you?"

Emily nearly jumped out of her skin, head jerking to the doorway where she saw Nathan on his knees, eyes groggy as if he'd just woken up but alert enough for her to know he wasn't in that 'when I wake up in the morning, I'll think this was a fever dream'. His Frodo Baggins curls were mussed, looking down at her in bewilderment, eyebrows furrowed and mouth open.

"Nathan? What the hell are you doing here?" She exclaimed hoarsely, hand on her chest as if that would steady her rapid pulse. She wasn't set out for shit like this, honestly. Emily could really do with people giving her a warning before trying to give her cardiac arrest.

"I-uh-what does that matter? What are you doin' 'ere?" He demanded. Emily shuffled on the spot, sending him a perplexed expression. His expression changed, eyebrows rising at the sight of the red blossoming on her cheek and the blood swiped on her cheek "Jesus Christ, who did this to ya?" He cursed, face twisted into genuine concern.

"Don't mind that right now," She muttered slightly pathetically, pushing her hair back from her damp face in frustration "Help a co-offender down?"

Nathan nodded dumbly "I'll never get used to that." He commented, voice trailing off as he began approaching slowly, arms raising just as slowly and grasping her trembling, outstretched hands, gently pulling her down from the ceiling then wrapped his arms around her waist to get her feet onto the ground.

It was the gentlest landing she'd ever had.

An awkward silence fell over them when she was finally set on the ground and he let his hands fall from her waist. "Funny story," She droned after a moment, tucking her hands deep in her hoodie pocket and averting her eyes. She felt uncomfortable, unsure of what to say in the presence of the almighty, uncaring Nathan Young when she wasn't sarcastic, witty. "It's a…It's a long story."

"Well, we have quite a bit o' time till mornin'." He scratched the nape of his neck. The movement made her press her lips together in a thin line.

She sent him a vexed expression, leaning against the nearby wall "Well, y'know my power? The floatin', hoverin' thingy. Well, turns out I can do more than just slam into ceilings when I'm piss scared."

"What the shite does this have to do with your shiner or your wrecked specs?" Nathan grimaced, gesturing to her, well, her entire face. She prodded her cheekbone that would bleed to her eye and inevitably become a nice looking black eye.

"Patience is virtue." She sighed, running her fingers through her hair "Lewis. My boy-well, my now ex. I sorta used my power on him, accidentally. He slammed into the ceiling, couldn't get down and then I…"

"And then you...?" Nathan persisted.

"I knocked him out." She finished meekly "With a giraffe figurine. Statue. Whatever." Realisation washed over her, so suddenly that she swear she almost felt lethargic or a wave of vertigo "Oh my god," She breathed, wide eyes meeting Nathans equally wide, baffled ones "I never have to go back!"

"No," Nathan agreed, his face clouding with anger, genuine concern and uncertainty "No, ya don't."

Emily let out a laugh of disbelief, then slid down the wall and onto her arse. Now that she was away from it all, from Lewis controlling her life like it was his own, like it was his to have, from Lewis' tight grip and backhanded compliments and cold remarks, she felt it all weigh upon her shoulders but left her weightless as well. A horrible, complex feeling filled her, glee at being free – free for the first time since she was nineteen to horror at the violence she just willingly and knowingly took part in. Disgust at how she let him drag her away from her parents, her brother, her friends. She tucked her chin to her chest, rubbing her face with her hands.

Her whole life was a complete clusterfuck, and she didn't know if she could fix it. She didn't know the method, the solution to this problem – the multitude of problems. What could she do? She knew she should call her family, tell them what happened but that felt like such a huge step and just the thought of hearing their voices made her throat dry up and her eyes sting.

It had been _so_ long.

She was jerked from her thoughts when Nathan let out a grunt as he sank down beside her, lolling his head back gently against the wall and draped his arm over her shoulders. She would've assumed it would bother her, but the warmth emanating from his body and now over her made her sigh and lean into the touch.

"Look, four eyes, as shite as talkin' about it is, this is probably somethin' you should tell the local police force about. Justice and all that." He finally said, sighing out of his nostrils.

"I will." She told him.

"Good. Tha's good." He said "Just…don't forget to do it. Or I'll lock you in the storage cupboard an' can I say, it's fuckin' terrifyin' in there. Everythin' looks like a person and the door locks automatically."

"Warning noted." She snickered into his hoodie "Did you lock yourself in there or something?"

"Might'a done." He mumbled sheepishly.

She laughed breathily, glancing up at him through thick lashes "Why're you here then? Not bein' rude but I expected this place to be empty."

"But ya came anyway." He shook his head so his curls jostled "I-Well, I'm fuckin' stayin' 'ere, alright? I'm just _lodgin'_." He exclaimed, face twisting in discomfort, obviously not one for honesty or serious chats. She could understand that "I mean, c'mon! It's practically a mansion, free booze, lotta room to kick back and relax, free snacks-"

"If you rugby tackle the vending machine hard enough." She deadpanned "Why? I thought you lived with your mum and your stepdad? Sorry - Jeremy."

His arm curled slightly around her, making her look up at him and spot his tight expression "She kicked me out. The day we found that Gary bloke and were pulled into an episode of Mutant X."

"Jesus." She cursed "And we never even fucking noticed…"

"Don't beat yourself up over it." He shrugged uncaringly, glancing down at her "Ya see this, four eyes? Emotional matureness. We're practically responsible adults!"

"Pfft, don't be an idiot." She snickered "You've got the emotional maturity of a preteen with a God complex."

"I'll take that as a compliment." He huffed out a laugh.

"Without a doubt." She smiled softly "All this heart to heart bullshit…feels like it breaches the line between co-offender and friend."

"Worse people ta be mates with." Nathan shrugged "You're one o' the better shitheads. Can take shit as good as ya can deal it, unlike some 'a the others." He sent her a sheepish, regretful look that made her raise a brow in confusion "About that four eyes…I didn't mean ta go all girl-on-her-period to ya."

"Is this your way of apologisin'?" She asked but she knew that answer already by the look on his face "I get it man. Don't worry about it."

And she did get it. He was on edge after shit like that, she was on edge all the time so merging them two together just created something chaotic, a mess of emotions that shouldn't have touched. Emily didn't know Nathan that well, or at all really, so she had no idea how he reacted when he wasn't being a twat but actually upset. Maybe that was something she could work on; trying to understand better. She didn't know any of the ASBO shitheads except Kelly, who was undeniably an actual mate now instead of just a random co-offender she'd forget about when the 200 hours were up.

"So," Nathan started, fingers pinching the fabric of her hoodie "Is that why you've been downin' vodka like water?" He turned to her, eyebrows furrowed slightly "Hope you don't think you were subtle, I could smell it on you. I'm a bloodhound when it comes to booze."

"Partly." She muttered.

"Oh, now we've gotta put you suicide watch too? The list keeps gettin' better and better-"

"You're fuckin' hilarious, really." She said.

He sighed angrily, massaging his face with his free hand "Jesus-I dunno how to do this. I dunno how to comfort people. I'm screwin' this up."

"Nah." She told him, voice wavering slightly "I think you're doin' a swell job. But don't let that get to your head."

"I dunno what you mean," He replied dryly, lips tweaking into a small smirk "I'm anythin' but big headed. I'm the definition of totally modest."

"When you have to say you're modest, usually means you're not." She interjected, fingering the cracks in her lenses and deeming them a lost cause, slipping them off and tucking them into her pocket. Nathan eyed her, but said nothing. She wasn't sure if she appreciated it or if it bothered her that she might be making him uncomfortable "Well, where're you sleepin', then?"

He led the way to the balcony where a mattress with a thin blanket was strewn out, rucksack lying forgotten beside it. He immediately lunged for it, swinging his legs through the railings and over the side and beckoning her to join him. She slipped her legs over and swung them, pulling out her cigarettes and lighting one, offering him the box. He fingered one out, and she handed him her lighter.

"I'm not…broken, you know." She felt the need to announce, awkwardly tugging on a lock of her hair that pooled by her hip.

Nathan sent her a twisted expression "Never said you were." He frowned, looking away with a gusty sigh "Aren't ya allowed to be a bit, I dunno, torn up over it? Seems fair to me, if you were." Emily bit her lip, eyes troubled and glazed over as she sunk her teeth in hard and stayed silent. "Which you aren't, obviously." He added quietly. Almost placating.

The issue was, was that Emily didn't _want_ to be broken. _Who_ _did_?

For the rest of the night, Nathan blabbered on about hiding from the cleaning lady; Janice, who wore one of those red aprons and apparently listened to him rubbing one off in the toilet cubicles and touched herself to his youthful voice. She wouldn't deny the fact that his bullshit was a good distraction from the problems haunting her mind and whilst she wanted to do anything but laugh – maybe cry, maybe slam into the ceiling - she found herself snickering and giggling where she was curled up beside him on the mattress that he insisted they share.

"An' for once, I'm not offerin' sex. Just an easy-out of a night of back pain. These floors ain't comfortable." He told her, propped up on his elbow to watch her as she curled into a ball on her side, thin blanket spread over her body.

"Wow, I'm impressed at your self-restraint." She deadpanned dryly, smiling wryly when he sent her a scrunched up, goofy grin. As she lay there in the dark, body warm from the heat coming off of Nathan's body, she said "Hope you don't mind a roommate. For the time being."

She couldn't see his face due to her shut eyes, but she could hear a grin in his voice "Never had a roomie before. Y'know, I told me mum that I was staying with friends in a flat…But, I guess I wasn't even lyin', right?" She felt him shift to turn to her, but she kept her eyes shut.

"Totally." She nodded slightly, lips tweaking up "Just two mates, sharing a community centre."

He laughed a little breathlessly "Four eyes?" He began "I'm sorry, about yer ex, y'know, doin' that to ya." He trailed off, obviously unsure what to say next. Emily smiled slightly in the darkness, blinking her eyes open despite the darkness surrounding them.

She murmured softly "Me too."

That night, she found out two things. One being that Nathan snored incessantly and it was honestly the most obnoxious and annoying thing she'd ever had to cope with when trying to fall asleep. His snores fucking echoed for Christ's sake. She wondered if anyone had ever mentioned those anti-snoring chin straps or sprays and considered telling him to invest in one but then remembered he was broke and bunking in a community centre so it was probably a lost cause.

Two, being that she had reign over her power now. Kind of. Not really. But she understood it better now. After struggling to sleep, she started experimenting with it and found out that she could levitate herself, and levitate other things like objects and people (apparently, if what happened with Lewis said anything) so…score. She totally got a power from the A-List, much to Nathan's dismay, she was sure.

But despite Nathan's loud snoring and her sudden grasp of this supernatural, mutant power that resided within her, she found a certain sense of serenity, being here with Nathan. Whilst he was subdued and attempted comfort tonight, she still wanted to hear more of his bullshit because he made things seem so much easier when they just…weren't. She wanted to laugh till she cried which Nathan often brought to the table with his stupid comments and bizarre demonstrations.

She wanted easiness like that. Her mum always said accepting reality was the hardest part of life; ignoring impossible dreams and handling harsh truths was a part of survival. She had an adoration for Darwin's 'survival of the fittest' and believed that if you dreamt of fairy-tales, you'd die and you'd die unsatisfied. Honesty was key in this world, and if you said that you would pursue all of your dreams, impossible or not, then you were a fucking liar. So even if she wanted to laugh, maybe she couldn't.

 _That'll get you slaughtered in the real world, little warrior,_ Emily could imagine her mums soft, but stern voice cooing. It made her miss her mother in a way she couldn't describe, even if she wanted to stick her middle fingers up at the stupid motto because fuck that. If she wanted to laugh and have fun and live then she goddamn would.

 _So, fight! Make great efforts Emily, because it'll work out. I promise,_ Emily's mum's voice echoed in her head.

She could do with easiness like that, she finally thought, staring at Nathan's sleeping form, hopefully in a non-creepy way. Maybe she could learn a thing or two from him, which was something she never thought she'd ever say. That said a lot since she'd only known the prick for a week or two.

* * *

 **A/N: Emily is finally free of Lewis, fucking finally. So many ideas for this chapter sprouted but this one prevailed (in the end, after like five times editing it lmao) with small moments including her mum because i haven't mentioned her enough. I love her family though, do you guys want me to include them in future chapters? Sorry I kept going at it, I won't touch this chapter from here on, I promise! Shout-out to Alessandra.12 for guessing that Emily would go to the community centre! That's been in my head since chapter one! I appreciate comments like they're water in a drought, thank you for being patient with me! x**


	9. Co-Offender Bonding Time

**A/N: It's been a while, hi, new chapter here. Very edited, my apologies. Is this story progressing to quickly? The characters in the show only really develop in season two, so I'm concerned that we know too much about Emily too soon. I don't know, maybe I'll edit this one day. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Despite the mattress, Emily still woke up with aches and pains – unsurprising, really – and went about wincing and hobbling like an eighty-year-old woman, something Nathan found fun in mocking, but was easily shut up when she mentioned the fact that he literally went to town on a pensioner. Score to Emily, she thought smugly.

She found out that Nathan had an affinity for wandering the halls in just his boxers. He didn't even bat an eye when she asked if he cared that Sally could turn up at any second and he just shrugged and told her that he didn't know who that was. Seriously? She sent him a dry, deadpan gaze then went back to brushing her teeth.

And that was how she found herself on the roof with Nathan and Curtis, after spending a morning with Nathan, she was now watching his stare at a glass bottle, fingers to his temple and tensing like his life depended on it. Emily rested her chin in her hand, watching curiously and pondered at what moment he was going to pop a hernia or maybe spontaneously combust.

Every noise he made, made her eyebrows sink lower and her lips tweak more, the high pitched grunt that passed his lips from how hard he was pushing was enough to make her snicker and lean back in her chair, starting "I don't think i-" Nathan held a hand up in her direction, making the words die in her throat. She shared a wry glance with Curtis who smirked dryly, before going back to observing an idiot in his natural habitat.

The door to the roof squeaked open, making her twist her head to see Simon hurry over to them "We've got a problem-"

"Will you shut up? I nearly had it!" Nathan shouted, not moving his eyes from the bottle, as if it would move if he did so.

"What's he doing?" Simon asked, confused.

"He's tryin' to smash the bottle with his mind." Curtis droned; arm splayed over his eyes in the position of pure relaxation, or utter boredom. She was never sure with him. Maybe was just trying to drown out the horrific sounds originating from Nathan.

"As you can see," Emily gestured to the bottle, still intact, and then to Nathan himself; still pointing his hands at the bottle and tensing like it was nobody's business, pushing harder than a woman in labour "it's been a major success." Emily's amused grin faded slightly at Simon's obvious staring and she looked away when he met her eyes.

"I think he's gonna shit himself." Curtis sat up; lips pulled into a grimace.

"He might've already done it." Emily drawled in amusement, cheek pillowing under her hand as she leant forwards.

"OH, this is _bullshit_!" Nathan suddenly yelled, kicking out so his foot came in contact with the table and lobbed the bottle in the direction of Simon, where it smashed onto the ground in a million tiny pieces.

Emily applauded "So efficient!" She crowed, giggling when Nathan waved a middle finger in her direction.

"I've got a power, I know it! I can feel it in my balls!" Nathan exclaimed, grabbing his junk and thrusting his hips and Emily knew this was her cue to leave.

"I'm going downstairs." She announced, stretching her arms above her head with a groan and a pop of her bones "You two deal with him."

"But we've got a problem!" Simon blurted; voice strangled – oof. Bad terminology, she thought sardonically, cringing as she brought her fingers to her sore throat.

"Tell me about it later, I've got a date!" She replied, twisting around to walk backwards and send them a mocking wiggle of her fingers. She full on laughed when Nathan scrambled to his feet, jaw dropped.

"What?! With who?" He exclaimed.

"Sally!" She laughed, opening the door and closing it shut behind her. For a second, Emily relished in the quiet and smiled to herself before trotting down the steps, set on finding a certain probation worker. As much as Emily preferred to keep away from members of authority, she supposed this was a necessary thing to do. Plus, she'd told Nathan she would, and she didn't want to get locked in a storage room.

And so once again, Emily found herself in the delightful company of Sally. She was sat opposite her in the office again, the woman looked fifty years older staring at her face, leaning forwards in her seat. She was droning on about the bruises on her neck and the blood crusted around her nostrils which she apparently hadn't managed to scrub away. Oops.

"I'm hoping you came here to tell me how that happened." Sally declared, joining her fingers together on the desk.

Emily pursed her lips, biting them inside of her mouth before letting out a cough to clear her throat, leaning back into her chair as if to keep more space between the two of them "Well, todays your lucky day, then." Emily mused, staring forwards.

"Good." Sally tried a smile that came out more of a cringe "Please," She beckoned for Emily to speak with a solemn nod of her head. For a moment she wondered if coming here was a bad idea, if she should've stayed on the roof and pretended everything was normal. All she wanted to do was act _normal_ , like she was fine and everyone else was fine; she could snark at Nathan and piss around with Kelly and maybe snicker over Curtis' inane jealousy over Alisha and that bloke. Simon would tape it all and it would be like nothing was wrong.

"Emily?"

She jerked back to reality "What?"

Sally sighed, massaging her temples "Please tell me what happened, I'm only here to help you. I'm not trying to…wound your pride or to humiliate you. I'm worried about your safety."

"You think I'm not?" She raise a brow, a distraught frown curled on her lips as she shuffled up to sit up straighter "I left my boyfriend. That bloke at the pensioners event. You saw him, didn't you?" Sally nodded "I left him. He was-" How could she describe him? "-A cunt and-" Emily cut off with a loud groan, hating how the words refused to leave her lips properly "Look, I came here to ask you that if he came here, if he turned up – make him leave, I-I had to knock the cunt out to get out of there-and I don't want him to-"

"Emily." Sally's voice was non-negotiable "Listen to me." She swallowed thickly, and nodded once "He won't come here. I'll help you sort this out, I'll file a report. There is no way he will get away with this without punishment."

"He'd go to prison for this?" She breathed, eyes wide as saucers, heart palpitating in her chest rapidly at the mere idea. It sounded like a dream to her, going outdoors without Lewis at her side and not having to fear that he would be around any corner, she wouldn't have to look over her shoulder or wait for impact or anything of the such. She'd be something akin to safe.

"Yes." Sally's eyes were hard. She suddenly felt a niggling sense of disgust at herself because this woman – yes, she might dislike her but still – was trying to help her and she was literally an accessory to murder. She knew what happened to them and she looked Sally in the eye and told her she had no idea. It made her stomach roll and clench.

Emily managed a shaking nod "Okay." She managed, fingers twitching for a fag "Okay, cool. That's-That's-I wouldn't, would I? For knocking him out. He was-He was bleeding."

"Of course not. There's a law saying that if self-defence is necessary then it isn't a criminal act." God, it was like everything this lady was saying reminded her of killing the Tony bloke. Maybe they should've gone to the police. No, they totally fucking should've.

"So, where are you staying now?" Sally asked.

"I'm, uh, staying with a friend."

Long shot.

"Good, that's goo-" There was a crash from outside the door that made their heads spin around in shock; a look of pure frustration appeared on Sally's face "Wait here a minute, I need to," She flapped a hand in the direction of the door, sighed, then left.

And she was left alone. She said a single "Ha." And leant back in her chair, twiddling her thumbs and whistling, but boredom soon set in so she stood up to look around. She was a nosy bugger, unfortunately. She used to look out her bedroom window at the neighbours whenever they had screaming matches, just to see if she could figure out what they were saying. They had a right go at her when they caught her snooping.

On the desk were just files, uninteresting and boring files that weren't even worth rifling through. Her eyebrows rose at the sight of a file with the name 'Tony Morecombe' typed on it, heart racing as she picked it up with trembling fingers, it was a profile on him as their previous probation worker, detailing his education etc, etc. Uninteresting, overall, but it still made her throat dry out and the guilt inside her double up again.

"Oh." She muttered, sliding the file back where she found it, hoping the heavy feeling in her chest would fade " _God_ , this isn't what I expected when giving back to society." She snorted in bemusement; if anything, what they did was the opposite. They literally killed a member of the _society_! Ridiculous. She jostled the mouse on the pad, smirking when the blank blue screen of the desktop with tonnes of links popped up. She bypasses all the files and Emily presses on the internet tab that was already open. A part of her hoped to find something weird just to know something about the woman that Sally didn't know she knew, like how she watched midget porn or something. Emily doubted she'd find that, but it would still have been hilarious.

"Uh…What the…?" Emily muttered, eyeing the chatroom that the tab opened. It was the average chatroom, nothing out of the ordinary, maybe a bit odd for an adult woman to be signed up to, if anything. Sally seemed to be logged in as someone called Shygirl18, with no photos, no real information about herself on the profile at all. If this was a Tinder profile, she'd think it was sketchy and swipe left.

"Whatever floats your boat, I guess." Emily shrugged to herself, leaning over the seat and clicking on notifications. Boring, just a few random, generic names from Dragonlord420 to Jessica posting videos or photos. Messages would probably be more entertaining. When the chats opened, Emily paused, eyebrows rising to her hairline.

 _"No w_ -"

The door creaked, making her heart plummet to the soles of her feet; she shot backwards into the wall, knocking a bunch of papers onto the floor. So much for subtly. Emily's head darted from the fallen papers to the door which was miraculously closed, no Sally in sight. She let out a relieved, breathless laugh that echoed in her ears as she picked up the papers and shut the laptop off, then left the office.

Emily's head was swimming. No way could Simon be having a saucy love affair with the probation worker. There must be something against that in the rule book. Is there a rule book? It sounded impossible but…Maybe Nathan was right and Simon _did_ love her. The messages were weird though, Sally refusing to send photos or give actual names. It was suspicious, to Emily. Emily knew it; Sally _was_ a sketchy Tinder profile.

What game was she playing?

* * *

Twenty minutes into community service, Emily finally exited the roof, stomping on her fag to traipse down the stairs and to the hall where the others were grouped on the floor together, silent and curt. She assumed it was probably because of the poster found in Nathans locker. Hey, it was only logical for murderers to be quiet when it was possible that someone knew their crime.

"Nice of you ta join us, four eyes." Nathan quipped when she walked in, stretching her arms above her head.

"You look like shit." Alisha frowned, bow lips pulled in a half uneasy, half curious frown. Emily plonked down and rifled through the clothes, pulling out a bumbag that jangled, making a lightbulb appear above her head. Maybe there was a quid in there and she could actually buy a coke instead of kicking the machine until it spat one out.

"Yeah, well you need to stop applying 50 layers of lip-gloss but you don't see me pointing out your flaws." Emily deadpanned, ignoring the middle finger Alisha flashed in her direction. Nathan let out a low whistle, leaning back on his hands.

"I dunno if I'm aroused or terrified of this feisty four eyes. She might start tormentin' me again." Emily had to fight within herself not to say 'good alliteration' because apparently with her life crumbling around her, she fell back on to the only thing she had succeeded at. An A Level. Great.

"Aren't you gonna say somefin'?" Curtis asked, raising a brow as he gestured to Nathan.

"Nah, it'll just encourage him." She replied, glancing at his scrunched-up face, then back to Curtis "There's no point scolding him either, he's not all there. It won't go in."

"Oi!" Nathan exclaimed, face falling slack.

Curtis growled out a sigh, leaning close to the group to hiss out "Look, can we focus here? We need to move the bodies."

Emily's brain went blank "Excusez moi?" She asked, dropping the bumbag and raising inquisitive brows at them all then turned to Simon sheepishly, tugging on her collar "Oh, so when you said problem, you really meant _problem_."

"Yeah, you skipped out on the issue for yer _date_." Nathan leered at her.

"And it was delightful, thanks for asking."

"They're building an environmental monitoring station under the flyover." Simon interjected quietly, hard eyes imploring, as if she would know what that is. Emily was shit in school, she was totally, 100% dense. Kind of. Emily blinked once, twice and then again.

"So…A station that monitors the environment. I get that. How does that link to our impending imprisonment?"

Nathan flapped his skinny little arms "She's got _no_ clue, you can see it in her eyes."

Simon started "It-"

Nathan groaned loudly " _You_ , shut it, _I'll_ explain it. It means they're gonna dig up the bodies, that's all ya need ta know but I've got a couple a' questions to Mr Olympics oh so enlightening statement. 'How?' 'Where?' ' _Are you out of your mind_?!'

"But if we leave 'em there, they'll find em." Curtis hissed

"I think it'd look pretty suspicious if the last people they were with were seen wanderin' around with them." She commented, shrugging loosely "But that might just be me."

"That's totally a low risk strategy." Nathan mocked.

"Oh, you got a better idea? Let's hear it."

"Yeah, I do have a better idea. Why don't you," He whistled, twizzling his fingers "and stop us killing the probation worker in the first place."

Curtis' jaw tensed in frustration "You show me how it works and I'll do it."

"We need a car." Simon's quiet voice sounded. Emily's mind soared back to the idea of him lusting after Sally, a variety of horrible images came into her mind and made her effortlessly pleased that Kelly wasn't here to have to witness such things.

"Have you got a car?" Nathan asked, eyebrows raising as he waited for a response.

"No." Came the curt answer.

"Great! We should call a cab. Better make it a seven seater." Nathan ribbed, rolling his eyes. Emily fought back a smirk, perhaps an inappropriate joke but the guy had a way with words. An odd, rude way but pretty entertaining.

The door creaked open, making them turn their heads to see Kelly, looking like someone shifty standing in an alley way in Beverly Hills with her pink cap, jogging bottoms and shades. Or maybe someone in a Tesco car park at night, Emily wasn't sure. "Where've you been?" Alisha demanded.

"I had to go to doctors." Kelly replied, ducking her head with a tip of her baby pink cap.

"Yeah well, while you were gettin' yer smear test, _big shock,_ we found out the bodies are about to be dug up." Nathan said.

Simon chimed unsurely "They're building an environmental monitoring station under the flyover."

"Do you know what that is?" Emily piped up curiously.

"Sounds like bullshit, right?" Nathan elbowed her arm, face scrunched in a 'we didn't learn about this in sixth form' grimace. She snickered, pushing his face away with her palm and grimacing when he licked it.

"You're fucking disgusting." She groaned, wiping it on his shoulder "Also, you don't know where my hands have been."

"Aren't all women super clean and hygienic? Or is that a myth?"

"Myth. Half the girls in my sixth form had crabs or lice. Or both."

"Well fuck me sideways, or don't, I don't know where you've been-don't send me that look, yer the one who fuckin' said it."

"I was just sayin' you should be more concerned where you put your goddamn mouth-"

Alisha suddenly perked up, probably sick of Emily and Nathan going on and on yet practically saying nothing at all, turning to Kelly and asking "Can you steal a car?" Emily saw this ending badly. Kelly was insecure enough about herself, she didn't need to worry about looking like the sort who knew how to steal a car.

"Can you get a car?" Curtis echoed hopefully.

Emily let out a loud, aggravated noise and rubbed her face with her palms "Jesus fucking wept, she's _just_ turned up. At least wait ten minutes before you voice your assumptions that she can nab a car."

"Will ya all _fock off_?!" Kelly snarled, lips pursed, storming over to the shoe table, shoving them all off as if they'd personally offended her and climbed up to sit on it. Fucking hell. Usually Kelly wasn't _so_ close to the edge of the proverbial cliff labelled 'patience'. Maybe it was Kelly's time of the month- Kelly let out loud groan, lobbing a shoe in Emily's general direction – not close enough to actually offend her "Shut _op_!" Kelly shouted.

"I'm sorry! I know that's something you should never assume when a woman's angry!" Emily yelped quickly, raising her hands in surrender. The others looked at her curiously, but she just sent a mildly apologetic look in Kelly's direction.

Kelly held her gaze, glare becoming a startled, if concerned expression – Emily paused, unsure if she was still pissed about the unnecessary period comment (a lapse in her judgement, of course) or…Kelly pursed her lips, sending her a pointed look. Ah, mind reader. It never failed to slip her mind, even if her power gave her the heebie jeebies.

' _Not now_.' She thought, smiling slightly when Kelly frowned in annoyance but nodded and turned back to the group.

"Look, we're a bunch o' young offenders and not one of us know how to steal a car? That is pathetic." Nathan frowned like a disappointed father, lips pursed and brows lowered. Emily huffed out a laugh, pretty shit father figure if he's pissed that they didn't know how to steal or hotwire a car. As the years run by, parenthood becomes a wilder and wilder thing.

"I can't even steal ibuprofen from a boots, let alone a car." She snorted.

"Pathetic!" Nathan exclaimed at her, gesturing to her with an arm "Honestly, I'm _baffled_ that not even one of us is in _actual_ prison."

"Look, I'll borrow my dad's car." Alisha said placatingly. It was almost shocking how co-operative she was being, since usually she only focused on Curtis and seducing his every whim. Emily was half tempted to give her a pat on the head, but that would risk ruining her perm and getting a finger bitten off so she didn't dare.

"'Cause you're banned from drivin', so that makes sense, right?" Curtis scoffed at her in a nasty tone. Emily startled, when had this developed? Sure, Alisha had been flirty with that other guy but they'd been fine, right? Or wrong. Emily won't deny that she'd been focusing on other things and not the romance between two almost-convicts.

"You're like a whiny little bitch." Alisha shot back, exasperated but fucking hell did it look like she was out for blood.

"Okay, one: calm down." Emily held out two hands as if doing so would send calming, soft energy to the two "I don't know why there's so much tension between the two of you but this is kind of a big deal. Like murder and felony big."

"Yeah, we need to work together! Think of it as a team-building exercise. I'm feelin' this!" Nathan exclaimed, wrapping his arms around their shoulders as if that would brighten their mood "Are we feelin' this?!" Nathan tried, jostling them a bit.

"Ugh, prick." Alisha muttered, walking off. Curtis headed in the opposite direction. God, Emily truly and utterly didn't care about the blossoming romance between them that may have now run it's course and died because they had two corpses that needed to be moved or else they would have to go behind bars. And in no way could Emily survive in prison, especially if Lewis ended up there too. It would just be another place she was trapped with him.

"D'you think I got through to 'em?" Nathan asked her after wagging his tongue at Kelly who was muttering under her breath from the shoe table.

"I think the sports bra might've spoiled the invigorating speech," she deadpanned, face twisting into something akin to both a pained grimace and a mocking smile as she patted his arm "but A for effort."

* * *

This was the reason Emily shouldn't let her nails grow out, even a little bit. Well, maybe not this specific reason. It wasn't often Emily had to dig up corpses with co-offenders, but things like mud or paint or anything that was messy got under her nails _way_ too fast. She couldn't even find it within herself to have the same inward rant she always had when it happened.

The area was lit up with the headlights from the car, casting an unnerving air around them that settled in her bones. It was freaky enough already but they had to add eeriness and a heavy silence with tension so thick you could cut it with a knife, just to make it that much worse.

Emily leant back, digging the shovel into the dirt outside of the hole and bent over her shovel, swiping at her sweating brow.

"Hard at work, huh?" Emily breathed to Kelly, who was standing beside her as she watched the boys continue. She wanted to smile, maybe wink just to reassure Kelly who looked a bit green, but it felt wrong and her lips wouldn't stretch up, only down.

"S'alright." Kelly muttered to her, quiet amongst the clanging of metal against hard soil, amicably knocking Emily's shoulder with her own "Ya don't have ta do that. Not now."

She looked over at the boys, and bobbed her head slightly "No, I guess not."

"Your boyfriend," Kelly asked after a moment of silence "Didja leave 'im? Or didja stay after 'e did tha'?"

"I left him." Emily sighed, falling onto the ground next to her with a grunt.

Kelly sighed "Are ya alrigh'?"

"I'm fine." Emily lied "I could ask you the same thing, y'know. You haven't threatened Nathan with physcial violence or share my catholic school secrets yet."

Kelly's smile looked forced which made her eyebrows furrow slightly but maybe Kelly didn't want to talk about it, or maybe she did but not right now "Been betta." Kelly admitted.

"You-"

"Oh _God_." Curtis swore suddenly, face twisting in disgust. She distantly thought 'hit the jackpot' but pushed the thought away when the smell hit her. "It _stinks_! We must be getting' close." It was a good thing the only thing she'd eaten that day was a pack of Maltesers or else she'd be chunking up the crime scene. And that goes against the logic of leaving no clues behind.

Emily heaved herself over, face set, and began to dig again, refusing to breathe in through her nose in case she ended up like Nathan who was retching and gagging beside her. Maybe he was doing it to be dramatic but she didn't want to risk it. She eyed his prone form with a mixture of concern and disgust. It was the messy kind of retching, with spittle and dramatic noises that set fear in any witnesses. When he finally stopped, she patted his back but stood out of the target zone "Okay?" She asked, eyebrows drawn in close.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." He groaned, wiping his mouth and sending her a grimace that was probably supposed to be some sort of reassuring smile. He put some welly into his next plunge into the dirt, faltering when there was a loud, moist squelch "I've got somethin'!" He called, dusting away the dirt.

There was a chorus of exclamations when they spotted the severed hand in the bottom of the put, covered in dust. Emily felt bile climb up her throat for real this time, tempted to escape her lips but she pressed them together tightly until they formed a thin line.

"Oops." Nathan said meekly.

 _Well_ , she thought, looking down at the hand; limp and severed, so rotted and covered in mud that she couldn't tell who's it was but she guessed Tony's, _he wouldn't be needing it anymore._

"You alright?" Came Nathan's voice, startling her from her morbid thoughts.

"As alright as I'll ever be." She replied, glancing up and seeing the same actual concern she saw on his face the night before. It was odd seeing it on his face, since he was usually such a complete wanker but it was…appreciated. She sent him a weary smile.

"Y'know, yer usually a lot gobbier than this, all witty remarks and shite. I'm worried about ya!" Nathan told her.

"What about you, man? You nearly chunked all over the corpses." She raised a brow at him "And that would've made things a lot messier."

"Things are often like tha' with me."

"Is now the time for euphemisms?" She shook her head at him in slightly amused disbelief "Kelly's been pretty quiet today. Maybe you should ask her if she's alright. Y'know when she's down she lacks any of that physical violence business."

He tapped his nose, sent her a salute and traipsed over to Kelly, leaving Emily to continued piling dirt into the hole.

What a great way to spend an evening.

* * *

As much as she often dissed and judged her power for ruining her joints and cracking her back, she had to admit that it was helpful for some things, such as: carrying corpses. As much as she hated the fact that she was aiding in hiding their bodies practically in plain sight, she still couldn't help but praise the power that storm had given her. Why? She didn't fucking know.

"What the hell?" Curtis looked at her in bafflement.

"Since when could ya do that?" Alisha grunted with the weight of the body and sending her a demanding look.

"I found out I could do it yesterday." She told her, going to slap her hand on the floating body beside her like one would a car, then faltered, retracting her hand sheepishly "Handy. Shame I'm using for criminal acts."

Nathan fumbled with the lock, shoving the door open so they could put the bags inside – the thumping noise they made when they hit the ground made her wince – and made sure they looked, well, not suspicious. Just random bags in a storage room.

Simon shuffled where he stood, glancing at her then away, shoving his hands deep into his trouser pockets. She eyed him curiously, waiting and waiting until she realised he wasn't going to say what he wanted to say "What is it?" She asked, smiling slightly when his head darted up and his eyes widened.

"I, it's-" He stammered "It's nothing."

"No need to look so pressured, man." She tinkered, exhaling through her nose "We're all fucked up here."

He licked his lips anxiously "I f-"

"NO!"

Emily mirrored Simon's shocked expression, joining the others to peek out the door only to see Kelly sprinting away with…no hair? Emily was sure she had hair a few minutes ago. What the hell happened? She looked away for no more than two minutes and Kelly goes from having beautiful straight locks to a skincare routine for her scalp?

Nathan was holding Kelly's cap and hair – apparently, a wig all along – in his hands, jaw dropped in bafflement that they were all feeling. Actual guilt was on his stupid little face, which both shocked Emily but also made her want to place a hand on his arm or something. Even if Kelly looked absolutely fucking hilarious without hair; like an egg. A beautifully smooth egg.

"Did you know she was bald?" Simon queried flatly.

"Course not! _Twat_." Nathan snarled back " _Jesus_."

Alisha scrunched up her nose, lips tweaking "She looked like an alien."

"Don't be mean." Nathan chided; genuine regret on his face but that faded when his lips spread into a grin "She did, didn't she? A bald alien!"

Emily bit back a grin but it was difficult when the others giggled and snorted "She's got a lovely shaped head." She commented "Some people go bald and have strange shaped heads. If anything, she's lucky." The others laughed, except Simon who didn't look like he was capable of laughing without having a hernia. "Jokes aside, you should go give them back." She said, gesturing to the hat and wig.

"Yeah, I'll have to find her." He bobbed his head then scurried off around the corner.

It was difficult to keep up with the revelations of today, really. Life just loved throwing curveballs, huh? Emily turned to the others, only just noting the tension between Alisha and Curtis had rekindled like a match in a tank of gasoline. "Hey, uh, Simon, let's go get a drink from the vending machine." She suggested, sending them raised brows that she hoped conveyed 'you better fucking sort this out, I can't deal with awkwardness like this' and then exited the corridor, listening to the quick footsteps that followed after her.

"Thank christ we're away from that," Emily sighed a breath of relief "The air around them was thicker than dog shit."

Simon coughed awkwardly "You-Do you know what happened between them?"

"Um, I assumed it was just some trouble in slutty fuck boy paradise. Not unusual. Did something actually happen?" She turned to him curiously "How do you know about it? Did they tell you?" Not to sound like a bitch, but that seemed unlikely. The only people Alisha and Curtis liked were themselves and that was the truth of the matter.

"I was there." Simon told her "She...used her power on him."

Emily's eyebrows touched her hairline, jaw dropping almost comically at the revelation. Today was just getting better and fucking better, wasn't it? "No. She didn't, did she?" Simon nodded unsurely "Fucking hell, that's not right man. No wonder Curtis is pissed." She paused suddenly, turning to him with narrowed eyes "Did you _watch_ them?"

"No! No, I didn't." Simon exclaimed, jaw tight.

"Okay." She nodded a few times "Okay. Well, I'm gonna hoss. You headin' home?"

He nodded, then stopped, eyes lighting up so quickly Emily wondered what kind of epiphany he must've had "I was going to tell you something in the storage room. I found Tony's wallet. I took his credit card. When I get home, I'll book a flight on it and they'll think he just…left."

Emily blinked, lips parting in surprise. She couldn't help but think that Simon looked like a sad, abandoned dog begging, desperate for praise and attention and honestly, she wanted to give it to him because fucking hell, that was _good_. "Jesus Simon, that's smart!" She exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear "Honestly, that'll keep 'em off our track. You should tell the others once you've done it, they'll be pleased."

Simon nodded enthusiastically, preening under the praise before rushing to the exit, sending her a stiff wave and closing the door quietly behind him. Emily sighed, a small smile on her lips then headed to the balcony. She'd toy with her thumbs until the entertainment arrived and the night would be easier and funnier. She'd fall asleep not feeling as afraid as usual, she'd wake up to blinding sunlight, a seemingly calm and gentle morning until she'd hear a roar similar to a birthing raptor and everything would seem as normal as they got for Emily, nowadays.

She could appreciate the 'now'. Carpe fucking diem and all that shit.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review, it gives me strength x**


	10. Illicit Repeat

**A/N: Emily and Nathan bonding time; I had fun writing and re-writing that scene, they really can talk about anything without saying much at all and I love that. Also, my writing is inconsistency at it's finest. Seriously, it's like I've forgotten how to write. Or maybe I never knew? Wow. I also have a thing for using the word 'before' which is incredibly annoying. Anyways, hope you enjoy! Please comment as it really pushes me to continue writing and not ditch the story when inspiration fails me. Cheers x**

* * *

"You're like Harry fuckin' Houdini." Nathan commented, staring up at her levitated body, sprawled lazily in the air as she flipped through a random book she stole from Sally's office. It was about Russian ballerinas and had the tiniest writing so she couldn't really read it since her glasses were broken. "Or that genie from that Disney film about the poor bloke and a hot minor." He pondered, kicking back and crossing his ankles, resting his hands under his head.

"Aladdin?" She raised a brow "Never heard of that synopsis."

"I'm a creative soul." He bragged "How'd ya know when yer gonna, y'know, fall? That must be a tragedy, ya never know what starts the saggin' process." He announced sadly, hand on his heart "And it'd be a right shame to loose that beauty so young."

"Don't you dare touch my arse!" She warned, lips tweaking as she dodged his oncoming hand, twisting in the air narrowly dodge it "You're a fucking hazard to society."

"So I've been told." He winked at her.

"It's not a compliment." She rolled her eyes. Of course, he'd take it as one though, he was the kind of guy to not care what kind of attention he got, good or bad, it's still attention. Emily couldn't understand it. She liked attention but in small doses, negative attention was impossible to avoid so she deemed it reasonable to accept it but she didn't _like_ it. Nathan was a bit of an anomaly, sort of like chemistry. Emily had never been good at chemistry. Just the word made her regress into a sixteen year old, drowning out her teacher's angry screeching – Mrs Everson, her name was – by imagining one of those monkey's slamming cymbals together.

"Anythin' can be a compliment if you believe it's one, four eyes." He told her, tilting his head back and shutting his eyes. Emily watched him from the corner of her eye, his eyelashes fluttered over his cheekbones in a way she was sure she could never achieve – why do blokes always get the best lashes? That seemed a tad unfair. "I just don't get why I don't have a power, y'know? I was there too. There _must_ be a reason! Maybe you can't just _add_ to perfection." He shimmied his hips, running his hands from his pecs down to his thighs.

"That must be it." Emily drawled, nodding in mocking understanding.

"Hey, I'm bein' serious!" Nathan whined "I thought women were supposed ta be gentle and comfortin'. 'Ere I am, spillin' my heart and you're just tearin' me apart, piece by piece."

"Maybe it's just the affect you have on women." Emily snorted, tucking a lock of hair away from her face "Look, maybe you _do_ have a power, man, but it's just…lying dormant. Who knows? Can't you just accept that and drop all of your dumb ass theories?"

"Why is it so impossible for me to have spider abilities, huh?" Nathan asked, raising his brows as a challenge.

"Well," She started "For starters, I think the powers are linked to our personalities."

He blinked, face completely blank, practically devoid of any acknowledgement of what she just said "What?"

"It's not rocket science." She rolled her eyes "It links to our lives, or personalities, I think at least. Kelly's…insecure about what people think of her so she can hear what they're thinkin'. Curtis regrets gettin' arrested 'cos it fucked up his career so he can turn back time when he regrets something. So on and so forth."

"Jesus four eyes, how much thought did ya put into this shit?" She shoved his shoulder, laughing "It makes a lotta sense to be honest. Does that mean that Alisha is literally just a slut?"

"Fucking hell, Nathan. That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" Emily scoffed at him "Forgive me for being profound but nobody's _just_ something. There's always more."

Nathan snorted, nudging her with an elbow "You should make motivational videos, maybe wear a sports bra or something to emphasise the assets to get people interested-hey! Stop hittin' me! I bruise like a peach!"

"Never though I'd hear the so called 'big, strong, masculine' Nathan Young emasculate _himself_." She quipped, rolling her eyes at Nathan, who was massaging his arm as if the quick but soft jab of her elbow actually cause irreparable damage.

"Real men show their emotional side." Nathan told her "Y'know, tears, hugging, therapy. The whole shebang."

"Careful, or you'll end up being the guy from Bedazzled." Emily snickered. The image of Nathan with fluffy red hair and freckles popped into her head, crying over the sunset and wisely saying 'I never wipe my tears away, I'm not ashamed of them.'

"You mean that ginger bastard who wore his tears like small, salty badges of emotional truth?" Nathan laughed, thunking his head back with a thump "God, I wish there was telly in this shithole. Elizabeth Hurley was a fuckin' babe in that film."

Emily huffed out a laugh, not disagreeing since Hurley looked pretty damn good in that red piece she wore, and she pulled off a fur coat well enough. "I'm craving some Blackadder." She confessed, placing her hands in her lap "Can't go wrong with a bit of Baldrick."

"Is 'e yer celebrity crush?"

"Oh, absolutely. Love me a man with a cunning plan." She snorted, taking the fag he offered to her and placing it between her lips.

"The only man with a cunning plan around 'ere is weird kid and I don't see you two gettin' it on, do you?" Nathan scoffed "Jesus Christ, _Baldrick's_ better than him!"

Emily smirked "Maybe. Who knows?"

He shot up, eyes bulging from his head "Wait, do you 'ave a thing for weird kid? Jesus, ya need to heighten yer standards, he's into fuckin' watersports! I'm really gettin' the short end o' the stick 'ere if you prefer a bloke who fantasizes pissin' on tits."

"I'm just fuckin' with you. Not bein' rude to Simon but he's not my type." No, her type was more of the violent and nasty variety - or not anymore, thank God. She exhaled a lungful of smoke, smiling at the ceiling, feeling more relaxed than she had in years – loose bones and eased muscles, she probably resembled a melted marshmallow hovering mid-air "What about you and Kelly, huh? When you told me she was bringin' you home for chicken nuggets, I won't lie, I thought that was a euphemism."

"So did I!" Nathan crowed, flapping his arms like the fact that Kelly literally meant chicken nuggets instead of some foul sex position was truly astounding "Seriously though, I dunno about it man. Not really feelin' it."

"Never thought I'd hear you deny yourself something with a hole."

"I do have _some_ restraint, y'know!" Nathan exclaimed "But, there was this one time where I was in the bar on the estate and a fit girl came up to me, so I get my cool on, y'know? I buy 'er a drink, and when we get back to 'ers I find out she's got a cock!"

Emily choked on her fag, coughing up smoke through a sudden fit of laughter as she tumbled from the air and onto the floor "Did you shag her-him? Them?" She wheezed through giggles, feeling tears in her eyes.

He laughed, leaning forwards to rest his elbows on his knees when Emily crawled up to sit beside him "It was temptin', but she sorta whacked me one when I started crackin' he-she jokes. Missed out on a poundin' there!"

Emily howled into her hands.

* * *

"-as 'er ex-boyfriend and e's bald! It's Jodi! She's got this power or somefin'! _Ugh_!" Emily jumped about ten feet in the air when Kelly full on socked the lockers, hand on her chest, sending her a bewildered glare "That _bitch_ did this to me!"

"She has the power to turn people bald? That's rubbish. Bald, bald, bald." Nathan mocked.

"Look, on the bright side, at least its nothing like, properly serious." Emily tried, walking over as she tied her hair in a bun "Could be stage 4 cancer and we all know there's no stage 5. But you've just been subjected to a pretty useless power."

Nathan pointed at her, hand on hip "That's some dark comedy, right there."

"When I catch 'er, I'm gonna batter 'er. I'm gonna rip 'er tits off." Kelly sneered, crossing her arms angrily over her chest.

"Can I watch that?" Nathan asked, crying out when Kelly whacked him round the head and spun to her locker, face set in stone. There was obviously no changing her mind on the fate of Jodi and her malicious balding power. Who knows, maybe it wouldn't go as badly as Emily assumed it would.

When they all finally get to the hall, Emily's already exhausted which just says a lot about her laziness really. All she really wanted to do was climb back up to the balcony and nod off on Nathan's mattress, maybe have a fag, a beer or two, find some sort of book to read that didn't have size 6 font. But no, she'd have to wait till after, apparently.

"We should bury the bodies under the foundations of the environmental monitoring station before they pour in the concrete." Simon said to them, voice quiet.

"So, you're plan is, we dig up the bodies, and then we re-bury them in exactly the same place? You're a genius!" Nathan taunted.

"That's actually a smart idea, _genius_." Emily elbowed him in the ribs, sending Simon a proud grin. He blinked owlishly before sending a startled, unsure smile back.

"That works." Curtis praised, lips stretching into a shocked smile.

"Yeah, tha's dead smart." Kelly added.

"It's okay." Nathan muttered dejectedly.

"Okay guys, if you wanna, uh, grab a box and follow me." Emily stood up straight, grimacing at her joints popping but faltered at everyone's lack of movement. She looked around, confused, eyes falling on Alisha when she realised they were glancing at her and how instead of her previous flirtatious behaviour, she was now acting pretty aloof. _Like that wasn't suspicious, or anything,_ Emily thought, averting her eyes "Uh, guys? If you wanna grab a box? Quick as you can."

Emily shrugged. She just wanted to get this shit over and done with, so she picked up a box and walking over to the bloke, turning back to see if the others would follow then fell into line with Kelly when they started hefting them down the corridor. Emily pondered using her power to lift the box, but decided against it. Believe it or not but over-using it made her feel lethargic which was a major disadvantage (and a kick in the teeth after trying to lift both her and Nathan. She damn nearly passed out for fuck sake.)

Community service reminded her a lot of school. You counted down the time until it was over just like she did in class, oh look it's 14:15, which meant technically she only had 45 minutes till 3PM and then only half an hour following so it was practically time to go home and watch Jeremy Kyle or the Graham Norton show! Wow, easier times.

She counted down the minutes as if that would make time go faster, but as always, it made time go slower. The clock ticked by as if every minute lasted twenty, which was just downright cruel. By the time they actually could fuck off, she felt like more of a vegetable than Baldrick.

"You 'avin' trouble sleepin' or wot?" Kelly asked her after letting out her nth yawn of the day.

"No, I'm sleeping wonderfully knowing we've dug up corpses, one of which we were responsible for the death of and are going to rebury the bodies to escape imprisonment." Emily drawled around a fag, waving a dismissive hand at Kelly's glare as they rounded the corner to see Alisha stalking off with the bloke from indoors, sending Curtis a petty glare before turning away, and Emily just stared, jaw dropped.

"Where's she goin'?" Nathan demanded.

"Ugh, is she hookin' op wiv 'im?" Kelly grimaced, staring after them with some sort of disgust in her eyes. Emily agreed on that for sure, the bloke looked like he'd either be extremely vanilla or maybe think that speaking about charity events during sex was dirty talk. But was this really to the time to be thinking Alisha's questionable sexual partners? Emily thought not.

Nathan grinned that stupid, shit-eating grin as he wiggled his hips suggestively "That is _definitely_ on."

"How do we move the bodies without her dad's car?" questioned Simon.

Nathan spun to Curtis "You need to get that tart on the phone and tell 'er we need her dad's car to shift the stiffs!" His voice became more of a hiss by the end of the sentence when Curtis stalked away from the group, jaw locked.

"Uh, where're ya goin'?" Kelly seethed "We need ta move the bodies!"

"You deal with it!" Curtis snapped.

Emily gaped "You _wanker_!" She shouted, overcome with a fury that made her want to throttle those two so hard that maybe they'd realise that maybe this was a bit more important than their apparently failed fuck-fest. Who the hell focused more on possible five-minute romances when they had things to do like; avoiding becoming convicts?

"We could take Sally's car." Simon suggested.

"Oh, this just gets _better and better_!" Emily fumed.

"Who's Sally?"

Emily slammed her fist into her head, hoping to God that maybe she'd wake up and this was just some sort of fever dream.

* * *

"You could be a doll and fucking help us, y'know." Emily huffed out as she helped the others stuff the stiffs into the boot of the car, leaning on the roof to send Nathan a dirty look through the wing mirror.

"But I'm the designated driver!" Nathan whined, picking at his teeth.

"'Elp os, you prick." Kelly snapped, eyes ablaze which was probably the catalyst to him huffing and puffing before climbing out of the car and stomping over like a toddler during a tantrum. Which described Nathan perfectly if she did say so herself.

"Which one's this?"

Simon grunted out "The probation worker."

"He's one fat bastard. Why the hell didn't ya use your float-y power thingy to make this easier for us?" Nathan wafted a hand at her.

"I wanted to see you struggle." She shrugged, eyes roaming over the car park whilst Nathan muttered more shite about 'antisocial behaviour' when she spotted, who'd have thunk it: Sally, who's fucking car they were practically planning to steal and now had two rotting corpses in the boot, oh shit-

Nathan yanked on her sleeve to drag her down by the car, peering through the window to watch her "Oh shit, keep down, keep down!" Nathan hissed. Emily bit her tongue hard, watching the woman dig around her bag for her keys but coming up null and void. Maybe Nathan still had them and she'd go back inside? God, what was the outcome to this?

"You're the one with all the big ideas, what do we do?" Nathan exclaimed quietly, glaring at Simon who stayed silent and looked a bit green in the face. He wasn't the only one, Emily thought.

"Where's the keys?" Kelly asked.

The engine roared to life, making them all turn to Nathan in disbelief. All he had to offer in return was a sheepish scrunch of the face.

"We're fucked." Emily announced, standing up from behind the bins and shoving her hands in her pockets "Completely and utterly, profoundly fucked. It was nice knowing you all – oh wait, maybe we'll be in neighbouring cells!" She added sarcastically, watching the car drive off with a sense of defeat.

Victory goes to the law, she guessed.

There's a heavy tension between the group as they made their way to the roof, probably to consider their soon-to-be-future in prison. Emily immediately flopped onto the cushioned bench thingy when they arrived, willing to spend the rest of her freedom napping, whilst Nathan rung up Curtis to inform him that they were all royally fucked.

"Someone left the keys in the ignition, but there's no point in namin' names at this stage, it's done now. So, the probation worker is drivin' around with stiffs in the boot of 'er car. Just thought you'd wanna know. Anyway, call me." Nathan hung up the phone, stuffing it back into his pocket as he turned to them "I left a message."

"That's one rollercoaster of a message." Emily droned; voice muffled by the cushions of the seat.

He sighed, plonking down by her head "I guess that's it." He said "We're going to prison."

"My career teacha said tha's where I'd end op." Kelly told them, wagging her hand like someone talking "She'd be givin' it all dis."

"You'll do alright in prison. You've got the whole bald this. You're well butch." Kelly growled angrily, turning to punch his arm similarly to a boxer and a punching bag "Ow! Ow, you know, you hit me a lot!"

"Yeah, 'cos yer a _dick_."

"She's got a point." Emily mumbled.

Nathan groaned loudly " _Great_ , now four eyes is in the depths of a mid-life crisis. Ya look like somebody ran over yer cat or somethin'. See? We'd do terribly in prison, with our beautiful faces and lithe bodies. Who knows what people would do to us!"

"I know what people would do to ya." Kelly retorted.

"M-Maybe Sally won't look in the boot." Simon interrupted, making Emily scoff in disbelief.

She lifted her head to look at him with a raised brow "Yeah, until the smell of rot becomes a bit too strong to be the corpse of a raccoon or mole rat so she whips open the boot and comes eye to eye with two human corpses?"

"Finger's crossed, eh?" Nathan mocked.

Emily sighed, thumping her head down to stare up at the sky. It might be the last time she saw it for a while, after all. How long would a murderer go to prison for? Like 20 or 50 years with or without parole? Not to mention the fact that they hid the crime for God knows how long.

"I could really do with some Ketamine right about now." She announced, pressing her arms over her eyes.

Nathan snorted humourlessly "You and me both."

It was almost baffling that just a night or so ago, she was on the verge of pissing herself from laughter and now she was in the same predicament but for a completely different reason. She and Nathan didn't laugh much last night, since she honestly expected to see the police run in any minute so she was on edge and was a major putdown. She was equally as unsettled when they didn't barge in, raiding the place down.

"This is the calm before the storm, you hear?" She informed, tenderly massaging the unmarred side of her face with her hand.

"Shut it, four eyes Your negativity is making me get hives." Nathan snapped, rushing over to the door to open it for the others to scamper in "Did any of yous get any sleep last night?"

There was a cluster of 'nos'' which Emily expected, who could sleep soundly knowing they might be behind bars by morning? "We would've been arrested by now if she'd found the bodies." Alisha insisted when they were all huddled indoors.

"Maybe they're waiting until we're all together." Ah, Emily could appreciate a pessimist but still. It put her on edge, even if she'd been saying the exact same things. Maybe all she wanted was somebody to say the opposite, like Alisha.

"Now why would you say somethin' like that?" Nathan demanded.

"Wot time does she usually get 'ere?" Kelly asked.

"Like, eight or something." Emily muttered, tugging at her hair "Maybe we could, like, wait outside for her, hidin' behind the bins wearin' balaclavas then fuckin' knock her out and steal her keys. We rush to hide the bodies, come back and tell her we saved her from a mugging?"

The others looked at her in disbelief, making her shift on the spot uncomfortably "Are you serious? I don't think knocking her out is a sound idea." Curtis scoffed.

"And where the hell would we get balaclavas from?" Nathan asked.

"Oh, I don't see either o' you coming up with any ideas!" Emily exclaimed "Standing around here isn't doing anything, is it?"

"She's got a point." Kelly said.

They rush back to the scene of the major fuck up they managed yesterday, she stood beside Nathan, pressing a hand to his shoulder to steady herself as she peered around them to see what was going on. She felt her body thrum with a nervous energy as the car came rolling into the car park, tapping rhythmically on Nathan's shoulder.

"She din't look in the boot." Kelly uttered, spinning to them with hope in her eyes. Emily managed a weak smile back, hopeful but not getting them too high in case of the worst situation happening. Of course, knowing them, it probably _would_ happen.

"We're gonna be okay, we're not goin' to prison!" Nathan rejoiced, grabbing her around the waist to yank her into an awkward side hug so his face was pressed to her stomach. In the heat of the moment, she wrapped her arm around his shoulders, biting her lip in anticipation.

From beside them, Curtis let out a gasp of breath making them all turn to him, startled "She's gonna get out the car, walk to the boot and she's gonna find the bodies." He panted to them; face set in a shock that Emily believed to be real.

"How do you know?" Alisha demanded.

"It's happened once." He told them.

"So, _now_ you rewind time." Nathan leered, then turned to her as if suddenly coming to his senses. Emily looked down at her hand clenched tightly on his shoulder and quickly retracted it, cringing and averting his gaze to turn back to Curtis. She absolutely refused to focus on unimportant things when shit like this was going on.

"What do we do?" She asked, voice wavering. She worriedly peered around the bins to see Sally climbing from the car. Her hands trembled.

"Agh, get the bodies!" Nathan hissed to them before lunging out from behind the bins, grabbing a brick from the floor and lobbing it directly onto the windscreen of Sally's car. It all happened so fast that when the screen smashed, Emily let out a gasp which she quickly covered with her hand. Sally spun to Nathan in outrage.

"What the hell are you doing?" She exclaimed, dumbfounded.

"It's just pure, mindless vandalism!" Nathan exclaimed, a breathless smile on his face despite the pure rage practically emanating off of Sally's person.

"What is the matter with you? Are you mentally deficient?" Sally seethed. It was a question most people thought about Nathan, surely. But, in his defence, he did just save their arses so she shouldn't badmouth him, even if she just thought it.

"If I was mentally deficient, I would've missed." Nathan crowed, beckoning to the giant, barbaric crack in the windscreen "Check that out, bulls-eye."

"My office. Now. _NOW_!"

Nathan scampered off inside with Sally at his heels, marching like a woman on a mission – a mission to kill – bad term, again, on Emily's part. She shared a look with the others that she couldn't decipher before they were scrambling up and to the car. "Did she take the keys wiv 'er?" Kelly queried, slightly breathless.

"No, she left her handbag in the backseat." Simon informed, making the group sigh with relief. Emily didn't know how to hotwire a car; fuck, she wasn't even entirely sure how to _drive_ on accordance to her relying mainly on public transport since she was a teenager. Perhaps a stupid move on her part. Alisha took the driving seat, starting the engine whilst the rest of them climbed in.

"Fock, I fink I nearly shat myself waitin' there." Kelly breathed when they were on the road.

"That's real nice." Curtis said.

After that they drove in relative silence; Emily couldn't think of anything witty or worthwhile to say, even when they got out to bury the bodies again, she kept her lips sealed. She knew that if they managed this without any more incidents, then the bodies wouldn't be found at all and they would technically have no evidence against them which would be a major plus. But she still fretted.

She stood silently with them as they watched the concrete being poured into the flyover, a miracle, genius idea they would've never even thought of had Simon not been here. Once again, she wondered if it was amazing or creepy that he was good at shit like this but she decided not to overthink it. Her paranoia was over the roof these days so she was in no place to make judgements. So instead, she stalked off back to the car, the others slowly trailing after, one by one.

* * *

"It doesn't matta who's afta os now, they'll never find da bodies. See ya!" Kelly grinned, waving a hand. Emily blinked her eyes open from where she was splayed beside Kelly, letting out a sigh and sending her an upside-down grin. It all went down better than she expected it to, and despite the raging guilt swarming in Emily's gut, she felt major relief that it was all over. Like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"T-They're gonna think the probation worker's still alive." Simon shot Emily a glance as he stammered out "I stole his credit card. I used it to book a flight."

Emily grinned up at the sky when the others started singing his praises. Kelly held the fag out to her which she took after sending him a pointed smile and a raising of the brow "That is smart!" Curtis complimented, grinning crookedly.

"You're dead good at stof like tha'."

"Yeah! Nice one weird kid." Nathan praised – which was so far probably the nicest thing he'd ever said to the poor sod, and he had to spoil it by adding the insult on the end of it. But Simon seemed to still relish being under good comments by the creepy little smile on his face.

"I cannot believe we got away with this shit." Alisha exclaimed in disbelief, sharing a look with Curtis. It seemed they finally sorted out their issues since the look involved heavy eye-fucking that felt almost inappropriate to be around.

"We should all go out for a drink!" Simon suddenly exclaimed, standing up from his seat "You know, to celebrate. It's like an ironic 'fuck you' to the probation worker. We're all out having a good time – you're buried under the foundations of an environmental monitoring station!"

The following silence was almost painful. Emily felt second-hand embarrassment when his excited smile slowly faded into a distraught expression. "See you all tomorrow, yeah?" Alisha finally said, standing up and walking to the door, but not before sending Curtis a coy glance over her shoulder, the cheeky bitch.

"Later!" Curtis managed then bolted after her.

"…Yeah." Nathan grunted, climbing to his feet and sending Emily a look, probably trying to get her to come to the balcony with him so he didn't have to hang around all on his lonesome. She pointedly ignored him, whistling.

"Do you want to come for a drink?" Simon asked him, almost on the verge of desperate.

Nathan peered at him through narrowed eyes "Are ya askin' me out on a date?"

"No. I-I meant all of us."

"Did you? I am not your _whore_!" Nathan sneered, twisting on his heel and promptly leaving. Kelly sighed and stood up, sending her a wave.

"There is no way I'm goin' out till my 'air grows back." She told Simon, looking at least slightly regretful "Sorry."

Cue the sad violins, she thought, sitting up and fixing her mussed-up hair and stretching out her limbs with a pained groan. Maybe she should start doing yoga – or something to help with her joints because this stiffness was almost unbearable. She climbed to her feet and headed over to Simon, hands in pockets.

"Where were you thinking, then?" She asked, sending him an easy grin at his suddenly startled face "Bar on the estate? They've got cheap drinks and I…" She fished around in her jumpsuit pocket then made an 'ah-hah!' noise and pulled out a twenty. She wielded it proudly, as if she didn't find it on the changing room floors earlier that morning "have some cash."

"Yeah. Yeah, that's-that's good." Simon nodded quickly, rushing after her when she started towards the door. He might be a little odd, sure, but Emily couldn't help but pity the poor sod, besides, he saved their skins more times than not so what was a few drinks? "T-Thank you." He stammered out, wiping at his hair.

"Don't be." She said, sending him a smile that she hoped wasn't patronising "But for the record, this just a drink. Nothing more."

He nodded fervently, and she sent him a wry grin before continuing down the steps.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading, I just wanted to mention that if it seems suggestive that Emily and Simon fancy each other or something, that is completely by accident and I didn't mean to do that. Hope you enjoyed and please leave a comment as they really butter my eggroll, thanks! x**


	11. Chin-Chin

**A/N: wow. It's been...a while. Sorry for not keeping up with this story, I've had a pretty shit run of it lmao. I hope nobody's lost too must interest in this fic! Anyway, this chapters a bit of a filler, but it's got simon & emily bonding, sally being nosy and Kelly spitting truths as per usual! Anyway, thank you guys so much for your comments, I love them so much and appreciate all the love even more! Enjoy :)**

* * *

The bar was busy that evening, packed with drink-warmed bodies and pleasant conversations huddled around tables. Being that it wasn't too late into the evening, not many people were hammered except maybe that bloke sitting at the bar who she was certain stayed there the whole day, calling out to random people saying it was his birthday. Poor weird guy.

Emily was a few cocktails in when she started feeling that familiar fuzzy feeling; it wasn't similar to the one when she was trying to drink herself into a coma, probably because she decided against something stronger and stuck to a sex on the beach, which was delightful and easy to sip. It made her shoulders sag in a way they hadn't in a while so she was overall having a pretty pleasant time, even if her company was with awkward, rigid Simon who sat with hunched shoulders and beady little eyes twitching as if he was wary of every little thing.

She could kind of get that, her eyes roamed the roof and stared at the door for a bit too long sometimes. A small niggling fear thrumming beneath her skin.

"Y'know," She began, sipping her drink idly "pretty sure that clenching your teeth like that will totally damage your jaw or something."

His jaw immediately loosened, eyes startled, flitting away to stare at a droplet of condensation on the table "I-I can't help it." He stammered.

"I know." She sighed, leaning forwards on her elbows, hair trailing through said droplet "Being constantly on edge sucks but it's instinct, I guess."

On the table, his hands clenched and his flitting eyes locked on her, making her shudder slightly at the fiery stare that definitely made the hair on her neck rise "I-I understand it too." He said "What it like. To be thrown around, to-to be afraid to go somewhere that should be normal."

"Simon…" Emily trailed off helplessly, scrubbing at her cheek when a hollow feeling erupted in her stomach "I-"

"I know it's not the same." Simon quickly interjected, words spilling from his mouth like he had no control over them "I-I know it's different. I used to be afraid of going to school. The other kids would hurt me and spit at me like-like I was some kind of _freak_." He was getting more worked up as he said more so she wasn't sure if she should stop his tangent in case he blew up or something. Emily pursed her lips "Like-Like it was _second nature_ to be _cruel_ to me."

She stared at his trembling hands and distraught, angry, _tormented_ expression and felt her chest ache and without realising, she had reached out a hand a placed it on his shaking wrist, lips pulled into a faint smile. His head shot up like a deer in headlights, making her smile pull slightly. "They were cunts." She told him "The lot of them. Schoolboy Simon deserved more; you still do."

"Yo-You do too." He mumbled; eyes trailing to the purple bruise spreading from her cheekbone to her eye. She self-consciously looked away, taking her hand off his wrist to tuck a lock of hair out from behind her ear. She often found that having hair stopping at her hips made for a great curtain to 'shield' her from uncomfortable positions. It was a habit of hers that Lewis had abhorred. "I-I overhead you and Kelly."

Emily vaguely thought of a faint, distant memory of her mum scolding her for eavesdropping on the neighbours when they were shouting at each other in the front yard about _someone_ not paying the water bill. She focused back on the situation at hand "You shouldn't eavesdrop." She told him, half-teasing but also faintly serious "But can't be changed now, I guess."

"I-It's good that you left him." Simon said abruptly.

"I know." She replied softly, feeling words in her mouth that she wasn't sure if she should bring up at that moment. Emily couldn't help but feel an immense guilt knowing that he had been painfully tormented in school and she often found Nathan's cruel comments to Simon funny. Sure, she did find the kid weird, and he did unsettle her greatly, Hell even the fact that he had the probation worker secretly and anonymously courting him made her suspicious (which was something she kind of wanted to ask him about to be honest). But she shouldn't allow Nathan to be so unkind, not when she knew what it felt like to be on the other side of comments like that.

"Do you feel like that when you have to come to community service?" She finally asked "Like you're afraid to turn up because…because of the way we treat you?"

Fuck, she hoped not. Under the table, she dug her nails into her palm.

Simon shook his head "N-No. No, I-I like it." She furrowed her brows in confusion "I-I don't mind turning up, it's not like school was. It's different…in-in a good way."

"That's hard to believe." She scoffed "What we get up to there isn't really what I imagined when I was told I had to do community service."

He grinned slightly down at the table, the one that looked odd on his face. Emily pondered that for a moment, that niggling confusion like when you can't remember a specific word or an actor from a film when she suddenly realised it was because she hadn't really seen Simon smile properly…ever. Which was depressing now that she thought about it. "I didn't either." He told her.

She grinned half-heartedly, gulping down a few mouthfuls of her drink "Glad we agree on that, at least." She told him holding her glass out and sent a look to his glass, and he blinked in confusion for a moment before realising what she was waiting for. "Chin-chin." She said, as he raised his glass, lips pulled into a strange but happy-ish smile. They clinked their glasses together but the sound of it was drowned out by the heavy sound of the bar.

 **oOo**

An alarm was blaring. The ringtone was the one of nightmares, the kind that when it rung you would've preferred slamming your phone onto the ground and stomping on it with your foot than just calmly switching it off. She felt herself slip from a dream she knew was delightful but couldn't remember and whacked her arm out, fondling the floor for a phone she couldn't find blind.

"Oi." She slurred, still clinging to sleep. Emily scrunched her face up in annoyance when got no response so she swung a hand out that collided with Nathan's shoulder " _Oi_." Nathan only grunted at her. Lovely and civilised.

"Ugh, will ya turn tha' off?" Nathan groaned into his pillow, rolling over and burying his head in his curled-up arms.

"I'm fuckin' trying." Emily mumbled back, lifting her head reluctantly to look for the devil-spawn of a mobile, slapping the snooze button when she located it by Nathan's goddamn hand "It was right by _you_ ; you lazy git." She said exasperatedly, thumping back on the hoodie she had as a pillow.

"Excuse you four eyes, but _you_ ditched me last night so you gotta do the hard labour. Gain my trust again and all that shite." He grumbled

"Oh, come on. You can't still be pissed that I actually went for a drink with him." Emily said, furrowing her brows and sending him an exasperated look "I did send you a text."

"Yeah, when you were leavin'." Nathan fussed, sending her a tired pout that was honestly kind of cute, in a way. She couldn't think of things like that about _him_ , Emily absently thought to herself, even if it was just a personal thought in her own mind, it would most definitely _somehow_ go to his head.

"He invited you too, y'know."

"Well, maybe I didn't realise how much of a laugh it might've been." He retorted "Now, will ya let me get back to fondlin' Megan Fox's shapely breasts? Cheers very much." He thumped his head back down onto the mattress and pulled a nearby jacket over his head as if that might help him fall back into slumber and into the awaiting arms of Mrs Fox.

"Pillock." She muttered, scrubbing at her eyes with her fists and sitting up, rubbing at her head that felt heavier than usual. Whilst not debilitating in any sense of the word, it still made her grimace and crave a nice glass of healthy water and maybe a sandwich. So, with a guttural sigh, she clambered to her feet, neglecting to pull on jeans or shoes and wandered down the steps in just her jogging bottoms and hoodie, bare feet slapping against the floor as she ambled to the toilets, arms stretched high above her head.

She would feel fresher after showering and brushing her teeth, so she headed to her locker to get her shampoo and toothpaste, stopping mid-yawn when her eyes fell on a printed out a screenshot of Simon and Shygirl18's conversation on the chatroom taped to the inside of her locker, but written over it in sharpie was 'DON'T ASK SIMON. Emily exhaled shakily, looking around the locker room, paranoid that there might be some creep hiding behind the lockers or in the shower stalls or maybe it was Sally, sneaking through lockers and putting this sheet in her locker. Emily didn't know.

She tore the sheet from the door and screwed it up into a ball, throwing it into the nearby bin and quickly headed to the showers. After her stilted morning routine, she changed into the orange monstrosity and wandered back in the direction to the balcony, trying to ignore the confusion she felt over the whole note issue. Who the hell saw her snooping on Sally's computer? Why shouldn't she ask Simon about it? This was just frustrating.

There was a high-pitched keening sound that made Emily falter, hand frozen halfway to her yawning mouth as her eyes slowly trailed to the metal sheet covering a storage unit. Was that…what she thought it was? Was that where the sound came from? It sure didn't sound like a cat stuck in there, it sounded more like-

And there it was again, followed by breathless panting and grunting; that unmistakeable sound that made her raise her brows in surprise. Emily blinked in disbelief, looking left and right like she didn't know where to go or what to do before sneaking out of the room so as not to startle the mating pair in the storage unit and headed back to the balcony, huffing in amusement when she climbed up the stairs.

Nathan raised his head from where he was slumped on his mattress, quirking a brow "Why'd you look like Jezza after he shat himself on holiday in Spain?"

"I think I-Oh hell, that must've spoiled that trip. What happened?"

"He definitely spoiled somethin' that's for sure." He flapped a hand in her direction dismissively "Food poisonin'. It was messy and very public, apparently he violently shat himself when he was at the pool, strollin' past the kiddie's in his tightie whities when suddenly, bam, shit everywhere-"

"Okay, as _lovely_ as talking about that is, I think someone's fucking in a storage unit." Emily told him, deciding to interrupt his detailed tangent about Nathan's 'he's not my stepdad' stepdad's messy and public accident with his guts going against him in a foreign country. It was a story for another day, perhaps a sleepless night. Only sleepless because she certainly wouldn't be able to get the scenario out of her head. Why was it when something was disgusting, you couldn't get it out of your head?

Nathan paused in his speech, perking up, lips spreading into a shit eating grin that didn't even piss of her off much anymore but instead made her grin toothily back as if his sudden excitement was almost contagious. "Really now? Lead the way, four eyes. This mornin' might be goin' better than I expected!"

Emily pursed her lips in mild disgust "That's grim."

"Don't look a' me like that, _you're_ the one eavesdroppin' on them."

"Okay, _no_. I was _innocently_ walking by when I heard a moan verging on pornstar-ish. I _had_ to investigate." She defended as she led him to the storage unit, where it was now obvious there were to people fucking in there since the sounds were pretty fucking loud and obnoxious. All whining and grunting and huffing in a way that made Nathan send her an awed grin, gesturing wildly between the unit and then the general area around them.

Emily snickered, covering her mouth with a hand, trying to keep as quiet as possible so as not to put off the _lovebirds_. Nathan held up a hand, then bent over to grab the bottom of the metal covering and tried yanking it up but alas, it was firmly locked shut. Nathan let out a disappointed groan, huffing on the spot with his hands on his hips.

"Oi!" Nathan called, rapping his knuckles on the metal "Are you shaggin' in there?"

"Fuck off, you pervert!" Came Alisha's distinct voice, shrill and mightily pissed off. Emily laughed, clutching at her stomach.

"Well, how long are ya gonna be?"

"Will you _piss off_?!" Curtis yelled. The metal sheet shuddered violently like he'd punched it, making Nathan jerk backwards, hand to his chest in mock fear.

"Wow, someone's train didn't reach the station!" Nathan crowed "Just give us a shout when you're done." He added in a patronizing, placating tone, sending Emily a goofy smile as he made his way back over to her, swinging an arm around her shoulders.

"You're gonna rip the shit out of them, aren't you?" She snickered to him.

Nathan winked at her and stated "Abso-fucking-lutely."

After all demonstrations, recitations and slandering were over and done with, so mainly Nathan reciting the nature documentary they overheard and the lovebirds sneering insults until Sally told them to get to 'work'. Now that they didn't have to sort clothes with that do-gooder anymore, they were back to the basics, meaning: litter picking. Emily didn't have an issue with it, they were half-hearted in their attempt at cleaning up the area and ultimately ended up sitting on the steps like the lazy offenders they were. Not to sound like the wet blanket of the group but she was honestly appalled with the probation workers they'd had so far (even if they literally killed one of them) Tony had left them to paint benches without supervising and Sally had sat in her office whilst they fucked about in piles of clothing and left them to chill out on the steps, allowing Curtis and Alisha to shamelessly flirt, Simon to creepily film them from around the wall and all that. Seriously, it was almost like they didn't _want_ them to do anything.

Emily shoved an earphone in her ear, leaning back on the steps slightly letting out a relaxed sigh "This is nice." She said to Kelly "If this is what they meant by community service, I woulda been more up for it."

"I fockin' wouldn't a' been." Kelly replied haughtily "It's bullshit, they litter and we pick it up, what the fock is that even about?"

"Rebirth?" Emily mocked.

"No way." Kelly snorted, picking out a cigarette from her pack and holding it out to Emily; she took one with a grin and a thank you, polite as her mother always taught her to be to those who deserve it "So, wots goin' on wiv you and Nathan then?" Emily paused at Kelly's question, turning to her inquisitively as she flicked the spark wheel and lighting the cigarette.

"Nothing?" Emily answered, confused "Why'd you ask?"

Kelly sent her an odd look then looked away so her eyes grazed over the unimpressive landscape of Wertham "'E was worried about ya." She told her after a moment, turning to glance at her with squinting eyes due to the white-ish sunlight beaming from the heavens above "Y'know, about your ex."

"I could guess what you meant." Emily said dryly.

Kelly scoffed lightly, puffing on her cigarette "Ya forget I can 'ear wot you lot are finkin', an' 'e finks about ya a lot. Honestly, it's startin' to get on me fockin' nerves, ya need to sort somefin' out or I'll tear me 'air out." Emily stared at her with an astounded expression, letting out a chuckle of either bemusement or surprise at Kelly's attitude.

"Dunno what you want me to do about it." Emily retorted after a moment "I can't make him stop daydreaming about little old me."

"Ugh," Kelly grimaced "Honestly, makes me fink of him acting like a schoolgirl wiv a crush. Fockin' foul, that is."

"Swinging his legs, maybe tearing the petals off a daisy? Singing 'she loves me, she loves me not'?" Kelly guffawed, shoving a laughing Emily with her should amiably "C'mon, doesn't that version of him have some kind of class? Some kind of charm?"

"Not at fucking all." Kelly snickered, but her smile was wiped off her face when they heard the undeniable sound of Nathan's voice shouting out 'Pervert!' Kelly's face immediately soured, all sign of a good mood fading. Emily sighed in disappointment, she always liked having a good laugh with Kelly. She looked over to see Nathan was getting all up in Simon's personal-bubble, face pressed close to the camera phone in his hands. Emily sighed, massaging her temples in exasperation when she watched Nathan lunge forwards and yank the phone from Simon's hands.

"What-What are you doing?" Simon stammered, stumbling towards the now phone-wielding Nathan, who was aiming it right at Simon "Give it back."

"Stop being a pillock." Emily called; face set in indignation. After hanging out with Simon in that bar last night, she felt she couldn't just sit around and snicker when Nathan tormented him like that. She wasn't enough of a liar to say that she didn't find Nathan's offhand comments slightly funny but Simon didn't deserve it, especially now that she knew how much things like that bothered him. Even if he didn't admit it, she was certain that Nathan's insults troubled him. If she just sat around and let him take things too far, then that would make her just as bad.

"Hey, I'm just playin' around with yer little boy toy!" Nathan replied "Come on, we'll do a little interview." Nathan guffawed when Simon tried to snatch the phone back, narrowly dodging the swift attack "Whoa, ok-ay! First question. Have you ever had sex with a piece of fruit?" Shit, Emily thought, hiding a snicker behind her hand, see? This was what she meant by finding him funny. He was a stupid, moronic twat but at least he was (sometimes) entertaining, right?

" _Give me my phone."_

"Second question. Was it a _melon_?"

It was like watching two gazelles fight to the death, Emily thought, absently watching Simon pounce at Nathan, desperately grappling for his phone. Or two toddlers throwing hands in the playground. "He's tryin' to kiss me!" Nathan loudly shrieked " _He's tryin' to kiss me_!"

 _"Just give it back!"_

"For fuck sake, just give it back!" Emily exclaimed in annoyance, sharing a dry glance with Kelly as the telepath stormed over to Nathan and whack him round the head, snatching the phone from his hands to pass it back to Simon. He held onto it tightly, knuckles going white but still aimed the camera at them all. Now that was dedication at its finest, if only she put that much dedication into, y'know, maths or something.

"Ow! Stop hittin' me!" Nathan cried "Fine! Have yer little toy, _Melonfucka_!" Nathan wagged his fingers at the camera, swaying his way over and plonking down beside her so she was sandwiched on either side. She sent him a dry, deadpan stare that made him huff at her and squirm where he was sitting "Jesus, it's like nobody can take a joke around 'ere anymore!"

"With you, there's a thin line between 'joke' and 'cruelty'." Emily droned, leaning back the steps and shutting her eyes. Nathan fussed then picked up the free earphone and plugged it into his ear, slumping back beside her and fiddling with the wire. "Y'know, if you think someone doing _that_ is trying to kiss you, then it makes me wonder how many people have actually tried to kiss you and how many were just trying to throttle you and you misunderstood."

Kelly barked out a laugh "Hey! There's a lotta women that've taken a bite out of the young, magnificent body of Nathan Young, I'll have you know! Don't go questioning my sexual warpath, four eyes, maybe I'll give you a demonstration!"

"Don't resort to threats now." Emily chided, smile widening at his offended expression and sending him a mocking wink before going back to her music and shutting her eyes. She tried to ignore the fact that she only shut her eyes to avoid the pointed look Kelly shot her.

"Hey, four eyes." Nathan tapped her on the forehead until she opened her eyes, jerking back with a disgruntled noise and bulging eyes when she saw how close to her face he was "Don't look so pleased to see me. Change this song, it's shite. Seriously, who listens to Rick Astley non-ironically? Something funky, pretty relaxed to fit with the mood and, oh I dunno, actually good."

"Fuck off, Never Gonna Give You Up is a genius song." She retorted "How about Gold by Spandau Ballet?" Blasphemy, that was close to blasphemy seeing that that song was an absolute banger. It wasn't verging on Godly like any song by Queen or I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys but it sure was good.

Nathan grimaced, his scrunched-up face saying wonders of what he thought of her music taste "Jesus, no. That's the song my mum's gay ex-boyfriend used to dance to every mornin' before 'work'. We're pretty sure he didn't actually have a job and was just going to meet up with a manly side-lover."

"You're telling me about that later," She told him, lips tweaking "Honestly, you're so picky. Why does a song have to fit in with the mood? _Don't answer that question_ …Okay, uuuum…is Teardrop by Massive Attack good enough for you?"

He sent her that familiar scrunched up, infectious grin that looked stupid on his face "Now yer getting' it, four eyes!" He exclaimed, cosying himself on the steps and throwing an arm around her shoulders, like he really was making himself at home. Emily, annoyingly, found herself not really minding.

 **oOo**

Emily heaved a deep sigh when she made her way into Sally's office, falling back into the cushioned chair and crossing her legs loosely. As much as the woman vexed her, she definitely had a lot on her plate having to try and get serious answers out of people like them, it was impossible except for Simon who would totally take it way too seriously "So, this is our chance to show repentance and growth? That's hilarious. What did the others say?"

Sally looked at her like she was on the brink of madness "This is your chance to talk about community service." She tried, voice wrung with exasperation and exhaustion that she was probably trying to hide for professionality and all that jazz. Unfortunately, she was failing pretty miserably. "How has it been for you?"

"It's been okay." Emily shrugged lightly with little to no conviction "Nothing really, y'know, difficult. We had to do litter-picking in our high school form groups every Wednesday so, there's that. And it's not like we have any supervision, which is _nice_." She sent the woman a droll smirk.

"I see." Sally deadpanned, eyebrow twitching in annoyance. Emily smiled against her will, taking that reaction with a grain of salt. The others must've been vicious things, probably bitching about every little thing that made community service bullshit. She just hoped they didn't say something like 'well, the regimen was a bit different than imagined. Is murder usually on the list?' "So, do you think that you've learned anything?" Sally queried.

"Sure thing," Emily nodded, crossing her arms over her chest "Don't look straight at the security camera when you're stealing their stuff."

The woman in front of her smiled half-heartedly making Emily wonder how close of the end of her rope she actually was "Alright, I suppose that's not…" She trailed off "How do you think you've changed? I understand that a lot has happened since the beginning of your service."

"To say the least." Emily laughed humourlessly.

Sally's tight-lipped smile became slightly genuine at that, loosening and releasing a small bit of the tension twisting at her face "I wanted to speak to you about that, actually. Pete, the policeman you spoke to, he went to Lewis' flat this morning and arrested him under the charge of domestic abuse. You don't have to worry anymore."

With a thick swallow, Emily sat back "Oh." She managed "Nice. That's…That's usually something you start with, innit?"

But Emily's light-hearted response said little for the emotions reeling inside her. It couldn't describe the icy confliction coursing through her veins or the searing _relief_ burning up her skin until it felt red hot to the touch. It was like hearing that Lewis was now _gone_ was a soup; a mismatched, complex soup and she was the hungriest person alive. She wanted to drink it, make that ache in her stomach go away but despite its richness and flavour, it was difficult to swallow and even harder to keep down.

 _Stupid soup analogy_ , she hissed in her head, _fucking ridiculous_. She dug her nails into her ribcage when she felt the familiar lightness in her feet, praying that now she'd learn how to control this bastard power, she wouldn't slam into the ceiling again "I'm sorry for not mentioning it sooner." Sally said "How have you been doing? I know that it's not easy coping with something like this. Have you spoken to anybody about it?"

"Not really." She muttered.

"Everybody needs someone to talk to." Sally's voice was patronizing; she was sure in some other world she would find it comforting and quite like it but, in this reality, she found nothing but dislike and reluctant pity for the woman "I highly doubt you'd want to speak to me about this, but what about your family?"

"Please," Emily snorted, meeting the woman's eyes with a flat stare that imitated the hollowness digging its way into her torso – where was the previous relief? That breath-taking, blistering release that was desperate to make its appearance again but unwilling to show its face "I haven't spoken to my family in more than three years."

Sally sighed in a way that made Emily bristle "Now is the best time to get back in contact, isn't it? You need somebody to be able to be honest with about this and its effect on you. Now is the time you can go against Lewis' previous influence on you and take back what he took. You have so much you can succeed in now. I've seen your A-Levels, you have so much potential-"

"I'm done." Emily said to her, coughing into her fist to clear her dry throat as she stood from the seat stiffly and heading towards the door.

"Emily-"

A shaky breath escaped Emily's lips, hand clenching on the door handle, knuckles turning white "Please," She muttered, refusing to turn around and look Sally in the eye as she pleaded with her "Don't mention it anymore."

There was silence for a moment too long that made her undeniably uncomfortable, she fought the urge to fidget "Alright," Sally exhaled deeply from behind her "I won't. Will you get Simon for me when you leave?" Emily nodded jerkily and left the office, walking into the hall where the others were fucking around in, head held high. God, she desperately needed a fag, she could feel her fingers twitching for one, or two.

Emily felt on edge, like she wanted to go to the balcony and just stay there for the day doing fuck all. Her hands were trembling in her pockets and her heart was racing in her chest. There was no way she could act casual and like normal Emily Ward with these thoughts flurrying in her mind.

"Finally!" Nathan crowed when she appeared, sitting on the floor with his legs spread wide for no apparent reason "Ya were in there for fuckin' ages! I bet you were havin' tea and biscuits whilst we're _slavin'_ away."

Emily rolled her eyes hard, forcing a smirk on her face "You don't look much like you're slaving away, man. Looks more like you're trying to keep your haemorrhoids in." She said dryly "Simon. You're up." She called, nodding towards the office door when his startled eyes shot to her "It's interrogation time."

"O-Okay." He replied, standing and walking with hunched shoulders to the office. He looked back before walking inside. Emily stretched her arms above her head with a groan, deadpanning when she saw Nathan bending over in front of Kelly, practically pointing his arse at her like it was some sort of weapon – which it was, in a sense.

He was mockingly pleading, wiggling closer to her "Does my arse look swollen? C'mon Kelly, just have a peek-ow! Stop hittin' me!"

Emily snickered quietly, fishing out her pack of fags and sending them a salute "I'm goin' out for a breather." She informed them with a cheeky grin – or what she hoped was a cheeky grin, at least "Work hard."

"Always, four eyes!" Nathan called as she wandered out the door, smile falling flat when she reached the railings and leant forwards on her elbows, lighting the fag with trembling fingers and inhaling shakily. God, putting up an act was just troublesome, but Emily didn't want to be depressing, she didn't want to be a mood-killer or a buzzkill. She wanted to laugh and mean it and she wanted to be able to have fun and not fret about mistakes or consequences.

" _Fuck_." She hissed to herself, lips pressed thinly. Why was she such a fucking mess? Lewis was locked up now, she didn't have to worry about seeing him in a bar or in the lobby of the community centre, he was gone and she was free. Free to call her family, to ask for forgiveness, to heal.

And she was better. Or getting there. She had always been Emily Ward, all witty remarks and harsh banter, Lewis had never changed that part of her and she prided herself on it. But she needed to fix the bridges she burnt when she ran off with him yet she had no fucking idea how to do that. She was a coward, a one hundred percent, pure coward when it came to facing her fears and rejection from her family was right at the sodding top of that list.

Emily dug her free hand into her pocket, taking her phone out and clicking on contacts. Her thumb hovered over the name 'HOME', jaw clenched and her eyes hard but it refused to click down. She suddenly found herself resenting Sally for making her think of this. She was fine-No, she was fucking _good_. Emily had found herself an easy routine with Nathan, full of laughter that made her feel light because it had been years since she could laugh this freely and she found amusement with her fellow co-offenders full of Alisha's attitude and Kelly's constant fuming at Nathan and Curtis' huffing and puffing and Emily had been _good_ -

"'Ave ya really not spoken to em for years?" Came that familiar, unmistakeable voice from behind her that was slowly coming closer until Kelly turned up beside her, looking over the water. Emily swallowed thickly and nodded. "Ya don't have to call 'em yet, y'know."

"I really hate you digging around my head." Emily admitted, offering her the fag in her hand which Kelly took a puff from.

"I can't 'elp it." Kelly frowned.

"I know."

"Are ya awright?" She asked.

"Peachy." Emily muttered, yanking her fingers through her hair then shoving her phone back in her pocket. She couldn't do it, and keeping it out was just mocking her, and if the phone felt ten times heavier in her pocket, then she didn't act like it.

"The probation worka. She really pushes your buttons, don't she?"

"You'd better believe it. I…I don't s'pose you've been hearing every insult I call her in my head, then?"

"Duh. Some of 'em are fockin' brutal." Kelly huffed out an amused laugh, turning to her "She said somefin', din't she?" Emily scoffed, that cow said a lot of things. Digging into her business like she deserved to know, maybe she had to file some sort of report on it but the least she could do was tell her that shit, surely "Nosy bitch." Kelly muttered.

Emily cackled "That's one way to put it."

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Bit of a filler, as I said. Not much really happened, but we get more into Curtis' journey into the past in the next chapter, which hopefully should bring in some curtis & emily bonding. Who knows? Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I'm trying to update this more consistently from now on, fingers crossed! If you enjoyed, please comment and favourite as they make my day! x**


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